Federal Register
The Federal Register (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices.[1] 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 (CFR), which is updated quarterly.[2]
Type
The Federal Register is compiled by the Office of the Federal Register (within the National Archives and Records Administration) and is printed by the Government Publishing Office. There are no copyright restrictions on the Federal Register; as a work of the U.S. government, it is in the public domain.[3]
The Federal Register provides a means for the government to announce to the public changes to government requirements, policies, and guidance.
Both proposed and final government rules are published in the Federal Register. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (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, 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. Publication of documents in the Federal Register also constitutes constructive notice, and its contents are judicially noticed.[4]
The United States Government Manual is published as a special edition of the Federal Register. Its focus is on programs and activities.[5]
Each daily issue of the printed Federal Register is organized into four categories:
Citations from the Federal Register are [volume] FR [page number] ([date]), 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 (CFR), which is updated annually.
History[edit]
The Federal Register system of publication was created on July 26, 1935, under the Federal Register Act.[4][14] The first issue of the Federal Register was published on March 16, 1936.[15] In 1946 the Administrative Procedure Act required agencies to publish more information related to their rulemaking documents in the Federal Register.[16]