The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the
official journal of the
federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on
federal holidays. The final rules promulgated by a federal agency and published in the ''Federal Register'' are ultimately reorganized by topic or subject matter and
codified in the ''
Code of Federal Regulations
In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the United States. ...
'' (CFR), which is updated annually.
The ''Federal Register'' is compiled by the
Office of the Federal Register (within the
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...
) and is printed by the
Government Publishing Office. There are no
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
restrictions on the ''Federal Register''; as a
work of the U.S. government, it is in the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
.
Contents
The ''Federal Register'' provides a means for the government to announce to the public changes to government requirements, policies, and guidance.
* Proposed new rules and regulations
* Final rules
* Changes to existing rules
* Notices of meetings and adjudicatory proceedings
* Presidential documents including
executive order
In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of ...
s, proclamations and administrative orders.
Both proposed and final government rules are published in the ''Federal Register''. A
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is a public notice that is issued by law when an independent agency of the US government wishes to add, remove, or change a rule or regulation as part of the rulemaking process. The notice is an importan ...
(or "NPRM") typically requests public comment on a proposed rule and provides notice of any public meetings where a proposed rule will be discussed. The public comments are considered by the issuing
government agency
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administrati ...
, and the text of a final rule along with a discussion of the comments is published in the ''Federal Register''. Any agency proposing a rule in the ''Federal Register'' must provide contact information for people and organizations interested in making comments to the agencies and the agencies are required to address these concerns when it publishes its final rule on the subject.
The notice and comment process, as outlined in the Administrative Procedure Act, gives the people a chance to participate in agency
rulemaking
In administrative law, rulemaking is the process that executive and independent agencies use to create, or ''promulgate'', regulations. In general, legislatures first set broad policy mandates by passing statutes, then agencies create more deta ...
. Publication of documents in the ''Federal Register'' also constitutes
constructive notice, and its contents are
judicially noticed.
The ''
United States Government Manual
The ''United States Government Manual'' is the official handbook of the federal government, published annually by the Office of the Federal Register and printed and distributed by the United States Government Publishing Office. The first edition w ...
'' is published as a special edition of the ''Federal Register''. Its focus is on programs and activities.
Format
Each daily issue of the printed ''Federal Register'' is organized into four categories:
* Presidential Documents (
executive order
In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of ...
s and
proclamations)
* Rules and Regulations (including policy statements and interpretations of rules by federal agencies)
* Proposed Rules (including petitions to agencies from the public)
* Notices (such as scheduled hearings and meetings open to the public and grant applications)
Citations from the ''Federal Register'' are
olumeFR
age number(
ate, ''e.g.'', 71 FR 24924 (April 7, 2006).
The final rules promulgated by a federal agency and published in the ''Federal Register'' are ultimately reorganized by topic or subject matter and re-published (or "codified") in the ''
Code of Federal Regulations
In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the United States. ...
'' (CFR), which is updated annually.
Availability
Copies of the ''Federal Register'' may be obtained from the U.S. Government Publishing Office. Most
law libraries associated with an
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
–accredited law school will also have a set, as will
federal depository libraries.
Free sources
The ''Federal Register'' has been available online since 1994.
Federal depository libraries within the U.S. also receive copies of the text, either in paper or
microfiche format. Outside the U.S., some major libraries may also carry the ''Federal Register''.
As part of the Federal E-Government eRulemaking Initiative, the web site
Regulations.gov
Regulations.gov is a U.S. Federal government web site that acts as an " Internet portal and document repository" that allows members of the public to participate in the rulemaking processes of some Federal government agencies.
The site allows ...
was established in 2003 to enable easy public access to agency dockets on rulemaking projects including the published ''Federal Register'' document. The public can use Regulations.gov to access entire rulemaking dockets from participating Federal agencies to include providing on-line comments directly to those responsible for drafting the rulemakings. To help federal agencies manage their dockets, the
Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) was launched in 2005 and is the agency side of regulations.gov.
In April 2009, Citation Technologies created a free, searchable website for ''Federal Register'' articles dating from 1996 to the present.
GovPulse.us, a finalist in the Sunlight Foundation's Apps for America 2, provides a web 2.0 interface to the ''Federal Register'', including sparklines of agency activity and maps of current rules.
On July 25, 2010, the Federal Register 2.0 website went live. The new website is a collaboration between the developers who created GovPulse.us, the
Government Publishing Office and the
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...
.
On August 1, 2011, the Federal Register announced a new
application programming interface (API) to facilitate programmatic access to the Federal Register content. The API is fully
RESTful, utilizing the
HATEOAS architecture with results delivered in the
JSON
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced ; also ) is an open standard file format and data interchange format that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and arrays (or other ser ...
format. Details are available at the developers page and
Ruby and
Python client
libraries are available.
Paid sources
In addition to purchasing printed copies or subscriptions, the contents of the ''Federal Register'' can be acquired via several commercial databases:
* Citation Technologies offers the complete Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations (CFRs) through subscription-based web portals such as
CyberRegs.
*
HeinOnline (1936–): Full coverage available dating back to 1936 in an image-based searchable PDF format.
*
LexisNexis (July 1, 1980–): Searchable text format since .
*
Westlaw (January 1, 1981–): Searchable text format since . The Unified Agenda and the official English text of the 1980
United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, which became effective January 1, 1988, are included. Sunshine Act Meeting Notices are not available prior to 1991. Unified Agenda documents are not available prior to October 1989.
History
The ''Federal Register'' system of publication was created on July 26, 1935, under the Federal Register Act. The first issue of the ''Federal Register'' was published on March 16, 1936. In 1946 the
Administrative Procedure Act
The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), , is the United States federal statute that governs the way in which administrative agencies of the federal government of the United States may propose and establish regulations, and it grants U.S. federa ...
required agencies to publish more information related to their rulemaking documents in the ''Federal Register''.
On March 11, 2014, Rep.
Darrell Issa introduced the
Federal Register Modernization Act
The Federal Register Modernization Act () was a bill that would require the '' Federal Register'' to be published (e.g., by electronic means), rather than printed, and that documents in the ''Federal Register'' be made available for sale or distri ...
(H.R. 4195), a bill that would require the ''Federal Register'' to be published (e.g., by electronic means), rather than printed, and that documents in the ''Federal Register'' be made available for sale or distribution to the public in published form.
The
American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) strongly opposed the bill, arguing that the bill undermines citizens' right to be informed by making it more difficult for citizens to find their government's regulations.
According to AALL, a survey they conducted "revealed that members of the public, librarians, researchers, students, attorneys, and small business owners continue to rely on the print" version of the ''Federal Register''.
AALL also argued that the lack of print versions of the ''Federal Register'' and ''CFR'' would mean the 15 percent of Americans who don't use the Internet would lose their access to that material.
The House voted on July 14, 2014, to pass the bill 386–0.
See also
* ''
Emergency Federal Register''
*
Government gazette
A government gazette (also known as an official gazette, official journal, official newspaper, official monitor or official bulletin) is a periodical publication that has been authorised to publish public or legal notices. It is usually establis ...
– for other similar government publications in other countries
*
Regulations.gov
Regulations.gov is a U.S. Federal government web site that acts as an " Internet portal and document repository" that allows members of the public to participate in the rulemaking processes of some Federal government agencies.
The site allows ...
* ''
California Regulatory Notice Register''
* ''
Florida Administrative Register''
* ''
Illinois Register''
* ''
New York State Register''
* ''
Pennsylvania Bulletin''
* ''
United States Reports''
* ''
United States Statutes at Large
The ''United States Statutes at Large'', commonly referred to as the ''Statutes at Large'' and abbreviated Stat., are an official record of Acts of Congress and concurrent resolutions passed by the United States Congress. Each act and resolut ...
''
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
External links
* from the
Office of the Federal Register''Federal Register''(official) on
GovInfo from the
Government Publishing OfficeFederal Register 2.0(official but not authoritative) from the Office of the Federal Register
List of CFR Sections Affectedon GovInfo from the Government Publishing Office
Office of the Federal Registerin the ''Federal Register''
Administrative Committee of the Federal Registerin the ''Federal Register''
Sources and Tools to the Federal Registerfree and commercial from LLSDC.org
{{Authority control
Publications of the United States government
United States administrative law
Government gazettes
Publications established in 1935
United States official journals