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.
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/
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 […]
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 […]
During the shutdown, we will not be offering technical support for Federalregister.gov. If data feeds are not available from GPO, FederalRegister.gov will not be updated, so please use the official edition of the Federal Register on Govinfo (https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/fr). If there is a technical issue with the Public Inspection List, you can view the official versions […]
By Amy Bunk Director of Legal Affairs and Policy, Office of the Federal Register The Government Publishing Office (GPO) just issued Circular Letter No. 1003 adjusting Federal Register page rates. Here is a link to the new circular: https://www.gpo.gov/how-to-work-with-us/agency/circular-letters/new-federal-register-publishing-rates. If you have any questions concerning this circular, please contact GPO’s OFR Publishing Services: phone 202-512-2100 or […]
As you may know, the Federal Register Printing Savings Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-120) placed restrictions on the distribution of official subscriptions to the daily Federal Register. The Government Publishing Office (GPO) recently issued a Circular Letter discussing how this Act will be implemented. Here’s a link to the GPO Circular Letter: https://www.gpo.gov/how-to-work-with-us/agency/circular-letters/federal-register-printing-savings-act-of-2017. If […]
We know agencies have questions about our procedures and publication schedule if there is a government shutdown. We published a Federal Register notice, outlining those procedures on December 8, 2017(82 FR 58028). Here is a link to that document: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-12-08/pdf/2017-26280.pdf. We have just issued a Federal Register Bulletin with a template request letter for publishing […]
By Amy Bunk Director of Legal Affairs and Policy, Office of the Federal Register The Office of the Federal Register released a new edition of the IBR Handbook in October 2017. We anticipated an effective date for the changes of January 2, 2018, but given our delayed notification, we are pushing the effective date back to […]
By John H. Martinez Director of Publications and Services, Office of the Federal Register The CFR Index and Finding Aids volume is published as a special edition of the Federal Register, and is now available on govinfo.gov and FDsys.gov websites beginning with the 2017 edition. Future editions will be made available online as the print edition […]
By Benjamin Jordi Public Affairs Specialist, National Archives and Records Administration Digitized volumes of the Federal Register from 1990-1994 have been published on www.govinfo.gov by the Government Publishing Office (GPO). The bulk upload is the first to be made available to the public as the Office of the Federal Register and GPO digitize the historical issues of the Federal […]
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The sixth volume of the Public Papers of President Barack Obama is now available. These volumes are produced right here at the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) by our staff in the Presidential unit. This particular volume is 888 pages and includes the text of his public speeches, news conferences, messages and statements, communications […]
We’re excited to share with you our progress digitizing the Federal Register with the Government Publishing Office (GPO). Since our last report, GPO has: Completed the preparation of the Federal Register material for digitization: Over 15,376 issues, indexes, and codification guidelines were processed, contained within 299 boxes. An additional 105 replacement issue copies have been […]
In accordance with EO 13713, Half-Day Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on Thursday, December 24, 2015, signed on December 11, 2015, the Office of the Federal Register will close at 12 noon to Federal Agencies and the public. The last scheduled public inspection will occur at 11:15 on that day. […]
If you have ever tried to search our site for Federal Register documents published prior to 1994, you’ve realized that there is nothing online from 1936 to 1994. Then you may have called our office, only to find out you’d either have to come to our office or find a Federal Depository Library near you. Well, […]
Today, the General Services Administration (GSA) released updates to their PKCS7Sign tool. The tool allows federal agencies to leverage the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates on many Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards. The update to the tool adds an unpack feature, allowing agency users to open digitally-signed files. All versions of the tool are available […]
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) hosted the 2nd Annual PKI Conference on August 25, 2015. New OFR Director Oliver Potts welcomed the attendees and briefly talked about OFR’s role in encouraging increased PKI submissions to the Office of the Federal Register. PKI, or Public Key […]
We are excited to announce the availability of XML (Extensible Markup Language) data for www.ecfr.gov through our partnership with the Government Publishing Office (GPO)! The XML eCFR.gov data can be repurposed for mobile web applications, data mashups, and other analytic tools by third party providers. Through our partnership with the GPO, XML datasets for the […]
[Cross-posted from National Archives internal blog, Declarations] The National Archives and Records Administration and the Office of the Federal Register are pleased to announce the selection of Oliver Potts as the 9th Director of the Federal Register, effective August 9, 2015. As Director, Potts will lead the Office of the Federal Register, which publishes the […]
[This post was written by OFR intern Lissa N. Snyders] Although agency regulations are not official until they are published in the Federal Register, the public has the opportunity to preview these documents before they are published. All documents that will be printed in the Federal Register are made available to the public at least […]
On June 2, 2015, the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) hosted its 3rd Annual Federal Register Liaison Conference in the National Archives’ McGowan Theater. What exactly is a Federal Register Liaison? Each federal agency is required to designate an individual as a point of contact for all documents their agency publishes in the Federal […]
[This post was written by OFR intern Lissa N. Snyders] We are excited to announce a new visual collection of the U.S. Government Manual (USGM) covers. The covers of each edition from 1935 to 2013 were digitized and additional information about each volume, like the number of pages and names of the editors, was collected. […]
[This blog post was written by OFR intern Lissa N. Snyders] Our users frequently ask for information about Office of the Federal Register (OFR) publications. Publication statistics for the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations are compiled annually and posted to the Tutorials, History, and Statistics section of our website. This includes information […]
It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Fred Emery, the third Director of the Federal Register. Mr Emery’s tenure, from 1970-1979, was one of the most creative and innovative periods in the history of the Office of the Federal Register (OFR). Not only did he initiate the changes that resulted in the […]
[This post was written by OFR Intern Lissa Snyders] The first document ever printed in the Federal Register was an Executive Order titled Enlarging Cape Romain Migratory Bird Refuge. In 1936, a banker from New York, Gayer Dominick, donated Bulls Island to the U.S. government. The Department of Agriculture conducted a land survey to determine […]
On Wednesday, March 4, 2015, we stopped posting the online Public Inspection List (PIL) at www.ofr.gov. From now on, the online PIL will only be available here at www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection. The content of the the list remains the sames, but some eagle-eyed followers may note a few formatting changes. The most significant change is in the […]
A question we get asked pretty often is “When is this document I read/heard about going to publish?” And the answer seems a bit secretive. According to 1 CFR 17.1: “…Upon receipt, each document shall be held for confidential processing until it is filed for public inspection.” So until the document is made available to […]
We get a lot of questions here at the Office of the Federal Register. Some folks are interested in commenting on regulations. Check out our earlier post on our commenting feature: http://go.usa.gov/hXN3. Others are looking for help finding regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). And from 1994 to now, all of the regulations […]
The fifth volume of the Public Papers of President Barack Obama is now available online and for purchase. These volumes are produced right here at the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) by our staff in the Presidential unit. This particular volume is 888 pages and includes the text of his public speeches, news conferences, […]
UPDATE: January 27 The official Public Inspection site, www.ofr.gov was fixed in the early evening on January 16 and has been working without issue since. We want to thank everyone for their patience as we addressed the matter. You can keep up with Public Inspection updates by subscribing to them on www.federalregister.gov or following us on Twitter. * […]
We are currently experiencing issues getting the Public Inspection List posted to our sites at www.ofr.gov and subsequently www.federalregister.gov. We are working with the Government Publishing Office to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. The Public Inspection desk is still available at our office at 800 North Capitol Street, NW, Washington, DC 20002. We […]
Many of our customers access the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) via www.eCFR.gov. It is an up-to-date, unofficial version of the CFR. The official version is still the printed CFR books. This weekend, from 9 a.m. Saturday, December 20 to 4 p.m. Sunday, December 21, the site may be down for maintenance. This should be the extent of the outage. […]
[This post was written by Ann Worley and Kristen Goshorn of OFR’s CFR Unit] Each year, there is one update every book in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) receives: a change in color. Starting in January 1970, CFR volumes were bound in paperback form with a stripe of color on both the spine and […]
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 […]
Written by OFR Intern, Emily McLean In a unanimous vote of 386-0, the House of Representatives passed the Federal Register Modernization Act, an act amending the Federal Register Act of 1935. The act includes measures to better utilize technology, ease the administrative burden placed on agencies seeking to publish documents, and continue the Federal […]
Written by OFR Intern, Emily McLean. The Office of the Federal Register hosted a meeting of the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register (ACFR) on Tuesday, July 8th in our conference room to discuss and vote on resolutions affecting the modus operandi of our agency. The three committee members of the ACFR, dictated by […]
The Office of the Federal Register held our 2nd annual Federal Register Liaison Conference on Thursday, June 5th at the McGowan Theater at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Agency liaisons from throughout the federal government filled the theater and nearly a hundred more viewed the conference via ustream. OFR Director Charley Barth welcomed the liaisons […]
This comes from our blog post that made it onto NARAtions. The National Archives’ Office of Innovation and Office of the Federal Register teamed up with Wikimedia D.C. to host OFR’s first Wikipedia Editathon on Friday, May 23, 2014 in our Innovation Hub. As part of our mission to inform the American public, OFR worked […]
We are pleased to welcome our newest member of the Office of the Federal Register family, John Hyrum Martinez! Mr. Martinez will be joining us in mid-June. He comes to the OFR from the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives, where he has served for the past 13 years. He earned his Bachelor of Arts, Magna […]
Federal Register posts online tutorial for PKI program The Office of the Federal Register is pleased to announce a lecture series on implementing a digital submission process for federal agencies is now available on Udemy (https://www.udemy.com/public-key-infrastructure-pki-and-the-federal-register#/). The lecture series was filmed at our PKI conference back in March. There are five lectures total: Introduction to PKI […]
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) hosted its first PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) Conference on March 6, 2014. The conference was an opportunity for federal agencies to gather and discuss the challenges and solutions involved in submitting an ever-increasing number of documents digitally for publication in […]
We just updated the Tutorials, History, and Statistics page on this site to include some simple statistics on 2013 Federal agency submission to the OFR! The Office of the Federal Register is equipped to accept digital submission of Federal Register documents using PKI technology. As you can see, more and more agencies are migrating to this […]
***This Posting has now Expired The National Archives and Records Administration recently announced a position for a Supervisory Technical Writer-Editor for the Publications and Services Division (FP) of the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) in Washington, DC. The position will plan, direct, coordinate and execute the activities of the OFR in all aspects of […]
The Office of the Federal Register(OFR) regularly offers a workshop entitled “Federal Register, What is it and How to Use it”. The workshop provides an overview of the regulatory process and the OFR’s role in that process. Specifically, it discusses the role of OFR’s publication of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations […]
Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks is slated to testify in an oversight hearing before the United States House of Representatives Committee on House Administration Wednesday. The hearing on GPO in 2023: Keeping America Informed in a Post Print World, will highlight the Government Printing Office’s efforts to remain relevant in the digital era. As one of […]
Congress has restored funding of appropriated activities and the government has begun to resume normal operations.
The OFR very much hopes that a lapse in appropriations will not occur, but we need to plan for all contingencies. What will happen to the Federal Register if there is a government shutdown? The OFR published a notice to give guidance to agency customers and the public. See, 78 FR 59974. In brief, the […]
By Gabrielle Burns Senior Writer-Editor, Office of the Federal Register The staff at the Office of the Federal Register would like to extend our sincerest and most enthusiastic congratulations to the new Public Printer of the United States, the Honorable Davita Vance-Cooks. The Government Printing Office welcomed its 27th Public Printer yesterday when Davita Vance-Cooks […]
Federal Register Workshop Schedule: When: Next Workshops: June 11, July 9, Sept. 17, Oct. 22, Nov. 19. 2013 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Where: Office of the Federal Register 7th Floor, Conference Room 800 North Capitol Street NW Washington, DC (3 blocks north of Union Station Metro) Reservations: Telephone: 202-741-6008 E-mail: ruth.allen@nara.gov For […]
A few months ago we made some changes to the way we display Federal Register documents in HTML on FederalRegister.gov. In particular, we wanted to improve the display of regulatory text by adding a variety of icons, shading, and spacing to make complex documents easier to comprehend. Visual cues and improved navigation tools help readers understand […]
Washington, DC — December 21, 2012. Earlier today, the President signed Executive Order 13633, declaring that: All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Monday, December 24, 2012, the day before Christmas Day… Accordingly, the Federal Register will not be published on December, 24, 2012. Documents that were […]
Cambridge, MA – September 25, 2012. The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University recognized 111 innovative government initiatives as Bright Ideas. Thirteen of the 111 projects are U.S. Federal Government efforts. We are proud to say that NARA’s Federal Register 2.0 is one of the initiatives […]
By direction of the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register, and in concert with the White House Digital Government Strategy and NARA’s digital strategy planning, the OFR-GPO partnership is forging ahead to offer our publications in modern digital formats. To modernize the Public Papers of the Presidents series, we extensively altered our production system in 2009 and 2010, making the next […]
This just in from our U.S. Government Manual editors at the OFR — all agency entries have been updated, including listings for Boards, Bilateral Organizations, and Multilateral Organizations. The Manual’s “History of Agency Organizational Changes” document has also been updated. If you need to track down which Federal agencies have been terminated, transferred, or changed in […]
The AOL Government site has a nice write-up on the selection of GPO’s Mary Alice Baish as one of this year’s “Fastcase 50.” The Fastcase 50 are deemed to be “the fifty most interesting, provocative, and courageous leaders in the world of law, scholarship, and legal technology. From lawyers and judges to librarians and government servants.” […]
Here’s an informative posting from our friends over at the Sunlight Foundation that explains how you can stay on top of the latest regulatory actions even before they are published in the Federal Register. They also have a nice plug for our “no-limits” FederalRegister.gov API.
The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and its parent organization, the National Archives and Records Administration, have open government embedded deeply in our shared history and mission. Recently, the National Archives updated its Open Government Plan to include significant initiatives to improve transparency, participation, and collaboration over the next two years. Since the last update, […]
Some of our customers reported that they did not receive their email subscriptions from FederalRegister.gov (FR2) the week of June 4th. Email service has been restored. The Federal Register on FDsys.gov was not affected. We determined the problem originated from our servers. Our technical team worked with Amazon Web Services to resolve the issue as […]
Scout is a new research and notification system developed by the Sunlight Foundation. It covers Congress, regulations across the entire executive branch, and legislation in all 50 states. We are pleased to say that we contributed to this project in a round-about sort of way. The federal regulatory content on Scout originates from FederalRegister.gov. We make […]
OMB’s Draft 2012 Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations and Unfunded Mandates on State, Local and Tribal Entities is open for public comment. A direct comment link is posted here for your convenience. The report is required to be issued under the “Regulatory Right-to-Know Act.” The draft report covers: OMB’s view of the benefits […]
The Law Librarian Blog (LLB) has questions about the impending GPO Access shutdown, and we have answers. The LLB asks, … what’s up with the e-CFR? The link on the FDsys page links back to, ah, GPO Access. Will this be transitioned by next week? I ask as it is a really useful resource. Fear not, LLB. Yes, the […]
A new edition of the Privacy Act Compilation is posted on our OFR.gov website. It covers all Privacy Act notices and regulations issued by agencies through 2011. The OFR’s Privacy Act editor updated the material for publication in record time — it was revised and re-processed just five weeks after the closing date for new […]
The Administrative Conference’s Committee on Rulemaking will meet Thursday, February 23, and Wednesday, March 21, 2012 to consider a draft report and recommendation on the issue of midnight rules. The term “midnight rules” refers to regulations issued during Presidential transitions. The meeting notice is posted in the Federal Register (FR2 XML and FDsys PDF). Professor Jack Beermann […]
The Administrative Conference of the United States published in the Federal Register the Assembly’s recent recommendations regarding Incorporation By Reference, International Regulatory Cooperation, FACA – Issues and Proposed Reforms, and Agency Innovations in E-Rulemaking. The recommendations of the Assembly are also available on the ACUS website.
December 15, 2011 To All Federal Agencies: What will happen to the Federal Register if there is a government shutdown? The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) published a notice to give guidance to agency customers and the public in the Friday, March 4, 2011 issue, 76 FR 12135. Our March 4th […]
The OFR welcomes the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), a sister agency within the National Archives, to our neighborhood near Capitol Hill. In fact, they moved into space right next door to the OFR. They also have a new web site to go along with their new digs. OGIS recommends policy changes to improve […]
The Federal Register issue of 12/1/2011 was delayed, but is now posted on FederalRegister.gov and FDsys.gov. Thank you for your patience. We apologize for the inconvenience.
On October 28, 2011, the President issued a memo to Federal agencies, directing them to make it easier for businesses to access the full range of Government programs and services without having to waste effort navigating their way through the Federal bureaucracy. We have a new small entities advanced search tool to help out on that […]
We have a new resource on FederalRegister.gov (FR2.0) — access to the pre-publication versions of Federal Register documents (PDF format) on file for public inspection at the Office of the Federal Register (OFR). For those who may not be aware, the Federal Register Act requires the OFR to file documents for public viewing at our […]
From the perspective of the OFR, the recent remarks of Steven VanRoekel, the new federal Chief Information Officer, struck a strongly resonant chord. At an event in Palo Alto, California, Mr. VanRoekel laid out his vision for the way technology can enable the government to do more for the American people, even as we face constrained resources. […]
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the OFR remembers the fallen and the aftermath of that tragedy. In the days following 9/11, the U.S. Government honored the memory of those whose lives were taken in a heinous act of war, and began a furious effort to defend the nation. […]
This week we rolled out a “suggested search” feature and a new look for highlighted documents in the news section pages. Our photo illustrations in the section pages are now in a larger, wider format and we added arrow pointers to let you leaf through four featured articles instead of scrolling down the page. Use the […]
Just in case you were wondering, Government Computer News has a quake report on Federal Register operations. The GPO workforce responded splendidly once again to ensure nationwide distribution of the electronic and print editions of the daily Federal Register. While GPO was evacuating its building and inspecting their physical plant, the OFR set up an […]
We have two things to highlight today. First, the White House announced that agencies are releasing their final regulatory reform plans, including hundreds of initiatives that are designed to reduce costs, simplify the system, and eliminate redundancy and inconsistency. The White House keeps an inventory of agencies’ regulatory reform plans on its website. We also have […]
