Chapter I-The Federal Register/Code of Federal Regulations System Historical background Organization Congress established the Federal Register publication system as a method of informing the public of the regulations affecting them. Increasing legislative activity spurred by New Deal programs led Congress to delegate more responsibility to Federal departments and agencies. The delegated responsibility frequently took the form of authority to issue detailed regulations concerning complex social and economic issues. A central publication system was necessary to manage effectively the increased number and expanded scope of Federal regulations. The Federal Register Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 15), which became law on July 26, 1935, established a uniform system for handling agency regulations. The Act specifically provided for Publication in the Federal Register has certain legal effects: • It provides official notice of a document's existence and its content; • It creates a rebuttable presumption that the text is a true copy of the original document; • It indicates that the document was duly issued, prescribed, or promulgated; and • It provides evidence that is judicially noticed by a court of law. The Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 551 et seq.), which became law on June 11, 1946, added significant dimensions to the Federal Register publication system. The Act • Gave the public, with some stated exceptions, the right to participate in the rulemaking process by commenting on proposed rules; • Required that the effective date for a regulation be not less than 30 days from the date of publication unless there was good cause for an earlier date; and • Provided for publication of agency statements of organization and procedural rules. These two laws, the Federal Register Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, define the basic functions of the Federal Register system and provide the framework for the promulgation of government regulations. The Federal Register system is composed primarily of two major publica- THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the basic component of the Federal Register publication system. The CFR is a codification of the regulations of the various Federal agencies. Structure. The CFR is divided into 50 titles according to subject matter. Titles are divided into chapters, chapters divided into parts, and parts divided into sections. The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) assigns each Federal agency the title, chapter, and parts in which it publishes its regulations. EXAMPLE 1: BASIC NUMBERING. Title 23-Highways Chapter I-Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation Part 140-Reimbursement § 140.908 Materials and supplies. (a) Procurement. (b) Costs. (c) Materials recovered. Title. Each title represents a broad area that is subject to Federal regulation. For example, Title 7 deals with agriculture, Title 23 with highways, Title 46 with shipping. Subtitles, lettered consecutively in capitals (A, B, C, etc.), are sometimes used to distinguish between departmentwide regulations and the regulations of the department's various units. Subtitles are also used to group related chapters. Chapter. Each chapter is numbered in Roman capitals (I, II, III, etc.) and usually is assigned to a single agency, which may be an entire department or one of its units. Chapters are sometimes divided into subchapters, lettered in capitals (A, B, C, etc.) to group related parts. Part. Each chapter is divided into parts, numbered in Arabic throughout each title (1, 2, 3, etc.). A part consists of a unified body of regulations applying to a single function of the issuing agency or devoted to specific subject matter under control of the issuing agency. Parts are usually assigned to chapters as follows: Chapter I, Parts 1 to 199; Chapter II, Parts 200 to 299; Chapter III, Parts 300 to 399, etc. Subparts, usually lettered in capitals, sometimes group related sections within a part. Section. The section is the basic unit of the CFR and ideally consists of a short, simple presentation of one proposition. Each section number includes the number of the part followed by a period and a sequential number. For example, the first section in Part 25 is expressed as "§ 25.1". THE FEDERAL REGISTER The Federal Register is a daily publication that provides a uniform system for publishing Presidential and Federal agency documents. The Federal Register contains • Certain Presidential documents; • Documents of general applicability and legal effect; and • Documents required to be published by statute or regulation. |