How to Find a Regulation

Finding Regulations in the Penn State Libraries

Introduction: What are Regulations?

The laws passed by Congress (sometimes referred to as "legislative law") are generally broad policy statements. Congress has the authority to delegate the power to work out the necessary specifics of a law they have passed to an executive agency, such as the Department of Education, the Department of Labor, or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These agencies then create regulations (sometimes referred to as "administrative law") based on the authority they have been given in order to "fill in the blanks" by providing the procedures and the details of the laws passed by Congress.

For example, 21 USC 341 (title 21, section 341 of the United States Code) is entitled "Definitions and Standards for Food" and states that:

"Whenever in the judgment of the Secretary (of Health and Human Services) such action will promote honesty and fair dealing in the interest of consumers, he shall promulgate regulations fixing and establishing for any food, under its common or usual name... a reasonable definition and standard of identity..."

This law gave the Food and Drug Administration (which is part of the Health and Human Services Department) some authority to create Regulation 21 CFR 165.110 (title 21, section 165.110 of the Code of Federal Regulations) dealing with Bottled Water Drinking Standards, defining a "standard of identity" for bottled water.

"(a) Identity — (1) Description. Bottled water is water that is intended for human consumption and that is sealed in bottles or other containers with no added ingredients except that it may optionally contain safe and suitable antimicrobial agents. Fluoride may be optionally added within the limitations established in § 165.110(b)(4)(ii)... It does not include those food ingredients that are declared in ingredient labeling as "water", "carbonated water", "disinfected water", "filtered water", "seltzer water", "soda water", "sparkling water", and "tonic water".

This example does simplify the situation somewhat. In many cases the authorization to create a regulation comes from several different laws and Congress can control the amount of power it delegates by including stipulations and limitations in the laws they pass.

Finding Regulations

Regulations can be found in two different sources: the Federal Register (FR) and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

Regulations are initially published as proposals in the Federal Register. At this stage the public is invited to comment on or criticize the regulation. Contact information on those crafting the regulation is included in the text of the proposed regulation. The agency responds to the public comments it receives and publishes both the comments and their responses in the "Supplementary Information" section of the finalized text of the regulation. Once the text is finalized, the regulation is published again in the Federal Register. In fact, a regulation is not legally binding until the final version has been published in the Federal Register. Other categories of documents published in the Federal Register include: presidential proclamations and executive orders, agency notices, and Sunshine Act meetings (government meetings that are open to the public usually to discuss a proposed regulation).

The Federal Register is cited using the volume number first, then the abbreviation "FR" and finally the page number. Occasionally the year of publication is included in the citation at the end in parentheses. For example, the proposed "Performance Standards for the Production of Processed Meat and Poultry Products" regulation was published in volume 66 on page 12589 in the Federal Register and would be cited as 66 FR 12589 (2001).

The Code of Federal Regulations is the official compilation of all regulations that are currently in force. Like the United States Code it is organized into 50 titles, with each title covering a particular subject. (Title 21, for example, is "Food and Drugs"). Unfortunately, the titles of the United States Code and the Code of Federal Regulations don't always correspond with each other. The CFR is updated annually, except for Title 3 which contains executive orders and proclamations of the president which is an ongoing publication.

The Code of Federal Regulations is cited using the title number first, then the abbreviation "CFR" and finally the section number (and subchapter separated by a period if applicable). Occasionally the date of publication is included in the citation at the end in parentheses. For example, Title 21 (Food and Drugs), section 170 (dealing with Food Additives), subchapter 60 (Nitrates and/or nitrates in curing pre-mixes) from the 2001 edition would be cited as: 21 CFR 170.60 (2001).

Finding Regulations in the Penn State Libraries

Code of Federal Regulations

The current print volumes, and all of Title 3 (1936-date) are in the Legal Alcove (Social Sciences Library Reference Collection) on the second floor of Paterno Library.

Westlaw Campus: Code of Federal Regulations
Westlaw Campus contains the full text of the current Code of Federal Regulations with a historical backfile that includes information from 1984 onward.
Westlaw Campus is available to anyone at a Penn State Library or online to researchers with a Penn State Access Account.

Code of Federal Regulations (GPO Access)
GPO Access contains the full text of the current Code of Federal Regulations along with the historical text of the CFR (as far back as 1996 in some cases). The CFR is searchable by keyword, citation, or browsable by title.
GPO Access is available online to everyone.

The Federal Register

The current print volumes are in the Legal Alcove (Social Sciences Library Reference Collection) on the second floor of Paterno Library.

Backfiles (volume 1 [1936] to volume 67 [2002]) of the Federal Register are available on microfilm in the Documents Microforms area in the Social Sciences Library (2nd Floor Paterno Library).

Westlaw Campus: Federal Register
Westlaw Campus contains the full text of the current Federal Register with a historical backfile that includes information from July 1, 1980 onward.
Westlaw Campus is available to anyone at a Penn State Library or online to researchers with a Penn State Access Account.

Federal Register (GPO Access)
GPO Access contains the full text of the current Federal Register along with the historical text of the FR back to 1995. The FR is searchable by keyword, citation, or browsable by title.
GPO Access is available online to everyone.