Legal Status
This site displays a prototype of a “Web 2.0” version of the daily Federal Register. It is not an official legal edition of the Federal Register, and does not replace the official print version or the official electronic version on GPO’s govinfo.gov.
The documents posted on this site are XML renditions of published Federal Register documents. Each document posted on the site includes a link to the corresponding official PDF file on govinfo.gov. This prototype edition of the daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov will remain an unofficial informational resource until the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register (ACFR) issues a regulation granting it official legal status. For complete information about, and access to, our official publications and services, go to About the Federal Register on NARA's archives.gov.
The OFR/GPO partnership is committed to presenting accurate and reliable regulatory information on FederalRegister.gov with the objective of establishing the XML-based Federal Register as an ACFR-sanctioned publication in the future. While every effort has been made to ensure that the material on FederalRegister.gov is accurately displayed, consistent with the official SGML-based PDF version on govinfo.gov, those relying on it for legal research should verify their results against an official edition of the Federal Register. Until the ACFR grants it official status, the XML rendition of the daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov does not provide legal notice to the public or judicial notice to the courts.
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Reader Aids
Use these helpful educational articles, tutorials and videos increase your understanding of the Federal Register publication system and improve your FederalRegister.gov skills.
On This Page
Office of the Federal Register Blog view
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Retirement of Archivist of the United States David Ferriero
In mid-April, 10th Archivist of the United States David Ferriero will be retiring. Take a look at personal reflections of his 12 years of service to the National Archives and Records Administration here: https://aotus.blogs.archives.gov/2022/01/13/retirement-of-archivist-david-s-ferriero/
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The Office of the Federal Register and COVID-19
To All Federal agencies: The Office of the Federal Register continues to operate normally with a few minor exceptions: We may update the public inspection list (PIL) more frequently than usual; We can no longer accept floppy disks with paper document submission packages; and We may take longer to process paper submissions because it will […]
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What happens to the Federal Register if there is a government shutdown?
What happens to the Federal Register during a government shutdown? The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) published a Notice to give guidance to agency customers and the public. 83 FR 63540 December 10, 2018. As explained in our Notice, during an appropriations lapse, agencies without appropriations who wish to submit a document to the OFR must attach a special handling letter […]
Using FederalRegister.Gov view
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Website Features
Sections We organize published Federal Register documents into six sections, similar to a web journal (Money, Environment, World, Science & Technology, Business & Industry, and Health & Public Welfare). We think these sections include themes that have broad interest and which cover a majority of the documents published in the Federal Register. We feature articles in these sections […]
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Document Features – Text
Active Links Agency-included links When an agency has included links as part of the document text, we activate those links using the text in the document. The link may not work if the link in the published document contained an error or if the target website is no longer at that location. Automated legal links […]
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Document Features – Sidebar
Document Utility Bar The utility bar runs along the left side of the document and scrolls with you down the page. You can access the Public Inspection version and the official electronic format of the published document using the 2 bottom icons. And you can print using the printer icon. Sharing You can share (email, […]
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Understanding Public Inspection
The Public Inspection web page on FederalRegister.gov offers a preview of documents scheduled to appear in the next day’s Federal Register issue. The Public Inspection page may also include documents scheduled for later issues, at the request of the issuing agency. This gives the public access to important or complex documents before they publish in […]
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Commenting on Federal Register Documents
Our “Site Feedback” tool and Federal Register email addresses are only intended for users to submit technical questions and comments on the functionality of the FederalRegister.gov website. These tools cannot be used to submit comments on rulemaking actions or to petition agencies on public policy issues. We have no authority or ability to process comments on […]
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Search Tips and Techniques
This site has a basic search tool and an advanced search. The basic search box appears in the main navigation at the top every page. The “Search” pull-down tab in the main navigation shows various search options: Document Search: You can search by citation (for example, enter: ’75 FR 12345′ or ’75 Fed. Reg. 12345′ […]
Understanding the Federal Register view
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Federal Register Statistics
Statistics Federal Register & CFR Publication Statistics – Aggregated Charts PDF XLS Federal Register & CFR Publication Statistics – Individual Charts Federal Register Pages Published (1936-2021) (PDF) Federal Register Documents Published and Annual Percentage Change (1936-2021) (PDF) Federal Register Pages Published – Annual Percentage Change (1976-2021) (PDF) Code of Federal Regulations Total Pages and Volumes […]
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Document Drafting & Research
These links can help you better understand the document drafting process and research Federal Register documents. For procedural questions about transmitting documents and IBR requests, as well as office access, visit our COVID procedures page. Important: www.ecfr.gov displays split and indented paragraphs showing the regulatory hierarchy for increased readability, an option not available in the official 2-column […]
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Related Resources
Here are external resources that are helpful for understanding the Federal Register, its parent and partner agencies, and the rulemaking process. Regulations.gov (Official Docket System for Public Comments) RegInfo.gov (Unified Agenda & Regulations Under Review) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST – database of standards incorporated by […]
Government Policy and OFR Procedures view
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About This Site
The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) jointly administer the FederalRegister.gov website. We developed this website to make it easier for citizens and communities to understand the regulatory process and to participate in Government decision-making. Legal Status Website The OFR/GPO partnership […]
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Contact Us
Send us your questions and feedback: For questions or comments on editorial content, features, or design, email us at: fedreg.info@nara.gov. For questions concerning FederalRegister.gov programming and technical issues, please use the Feedback button. For questions on access for the visually impaired, see the Accessibility page of this website. To contact the Office of the Federal Register, visit […]
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Privacy
FederalRegister.gov is an authorized service of the Office of the Federal Register (OFR), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your visits to this website. We follow OMB recommendations and best practices for protecting Internet privacy. Outlined below is our […]
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Accessibility
We designed this site following Section 508 and W3C accessibility design guidelines. This site uses text-based files and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files, which are text-accessible through the use of Adobe PDF Tools. See more about Adobe Acrobat Reader and PDF Files below. The OFR and GPO are committed to assisting people with disabilities in […]
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FOIA
Federal Register publications, including the FederalRegister.gov website and the various editions of the daily Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Federal Register/CFR indexes, and the Public Laws posted on the Federal Digital System (FDsys.gov) are not subject to the request for records provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Under the FOIA, […]
Congressional Review view
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Resolutions of Disapproval Under the Congressional Review Act
What happens when agency regulations expire, either by their own terms or by law? Who takes the action to remove the regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)? If an agency includes an expiration or sunset date with its regulations, those specific provisions are automatically removed from the CFR as of that date. However, under […]
Recent Site Updates view
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Welcome to the updated FederalRegister.gov!
When we launched FederalRegister.gov in July of 2010 we had two major goals, to make the Federal Register accessible to more people and to use the power of modern technology to make it easier to understand in the context of the larger regulatory environment. Over the past 6 years we’ve continued to update FederalRegister.gov with […]
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New “Submit a Formal Comment” Feature!
We’re excited to announce the release of our newest feature – the ability to comment on a document without leaving FederalRegister.gov. We’ve been working with the team at Regulations.gov to make this possible and are excited to share it with you all. Previously, whenever you clicked the ‘Submit a Formal Comment’ button on a document […]
Videos & Tutorials view
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Federal Register Workshop
The Federal Register Workshop describes the Federal Register system and how to use it. The workshop lasts about three hours and is presented by a member of the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration. The workshop explains the relationship between the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), provides […]
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Using Complex Search Terms
We support numerous ways for you to customize your search. Some search options are available in the advanced search tool, and others are inherently available in the basic search entry box. The examples and search strategies in this help document describe search options you can use in the basic search entry box.
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Linking to FederalRegister.gov
If you are referencing documents on FederalRegister.gov you can link to them in a number of different ways depending on the document and your preferred pattern. These various patterns are explained below with examples. Linking to FederalRegister.gov Federal Register documents can be cited in a variety of ways; it may be convenient to link to FR […]
Developer Resources view
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REST API & Interactive Documentation
Federal Register data originates with the files used to produce the print and PDF editions. During the publication process these are transformed into bulk XML files made available by the Government Publishing Office (GPO). Additional MODS files that contain metadata about each document are also produced at the same time. Because these files are meant […]
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API Clients
Ruby API Client The FederalRegister.gov team maintains a Ruby API client that is available as a Ruby gem. This client gem is used to power the web display of FederalRegister.gov. You can find it on GitHub and RubyGems. Other resources To learn more about our API you can read more here and explore the API with […]
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FederalRegister.gov is Open Source
Project Source Code FederalRegister.gov is a fully open source project and its source code is available on Github. The FederalRegister.gov source code is available in two repositories. The first, federalregister-api-core, contains the code that powers the import of Federal Register data from various sources and serves our API responses. This repo is undergoing active cleanup […]