Federal Rules and Regulations

Overview

Congress delegates to federal departments and agencies the power to issue rules and regulations which implement statutes and have the full force of law. Statutes are usually broad in scope while rules are the detailed &nuts and bolts&.

As required by the Federal Register Act of 1935 and its amendments, new rules must first appear in the daily Federal Register, and all "in force" rules must appear annually in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The CFR is the preferred source because of its index, "in force" status, and subject arrangement into 50 broad titles. However, because it is revised only once a year with new rules added and obsolete ones deleted, it must always be updated in the recent issues of the Federal Register.

The Federal Register contains both proposed and final rules, as well as public notices, Presidential documents, and notices of Sunshine Act meetings. It has many thousands of pages each year. The CFR contains only final rules in force, regardless of when they were originally issued. Both publications are copiously cross-referenced to each other, so that it is easy to trace the history of a rule from its proposal through its latest change.

Title 3 of the CFR is unique. Because it contains presidential executive orders and proclamations in chronological rather than codified order, all volumes of Title 3 are shelved with the current CFR.

• How to Use the Code of Federal Regulations
• How to Find a Regulation