A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is a public notice that is issued by

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

when an

independent agency A regulatory agency (regulatory body, regulator) or independent agency (independent regulatory agency) is a government authority that is responsible for exercising autonomous dominion over some area of human activity in a licensing and regulati ...

of the

US government 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 feder ...

wishes to add, remove, or change a rule or

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

as part of the rulemaking process. The notice is an important part of US administrative law, which facilitates government by typically creating a process of taking of

public comment In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

. The term is also used at the state level in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Procedure

Although it is not required by the US Constitution, NPRM is required and defined by the Administrative Procedure Act, section 553. The

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

created the requirement to enlighten agencies and to force them to listen to comments and concerns of people who will likely be affected by the regulation. The

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

(FAA),

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are examples of agencies subject to the NPRM. The NPRM is published in the Federal Register and typically gives 60 days for public comment from any interested party and an additional 30 days for reply comments. Original comments may still be filed in the reply comments window. While that is the normal method of agency rulemaking, emergency rulemaking may bypass the NPRM process. A notice is not required to be published in the Federal Register if all persons subject to it are named and personally served with a copy of it. Each notice, whether published in the Federal Register or personally served, includes: #A statement of the time, place, and nature of the proposed rulemaking proceeding; #A reference to the authority under which it is issued; #A description of the subjects and issues involved or the substance and terms of the proposed regulation; #A statement of the time within which written comments must be submitted; and #A statement of how and to what extent interested persons may participate in the proceeding. NPRMs are often preceded by a notice of inquiry (NOI) in which comments are invited but no rules have yet been proposed. Comments received in that period allow the agency to prepare the NPRM better by making more-informed decisions on proposals. An NPRM may be followed by a further notice of proposed rulemaking (FNPRM), if the comments from the initial NPRM lead the agency to change the proposal drastically to the point that further comment is required. Rules are finalized when a report and order (R&O) is issued, which may be amended with a second R&O (or more) in a continuing proceeding (such as the

DTV transition The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...

). Regulations.govRegulations.gov
/ref> is a website established in 2002 to provide better access to rulemaking and allows comments to be posted to nearly 300 federal agencies.

Foreign equivalents

Equivalent procedures of public consultation are also used outside the

for a document giving public notice of a proposed rule change and inviting informed comment on it. The

European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monito ...

(EASA) publishes similar notices referred to
notice of proposed amendment
when it seeks public comment. Albion Gazette
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking United States administrative law

Procedure

Foreign equivalents

See also

References