Federal Register Act (44 U.S.C.
Chapter 15)
§ 1501. Definitions
As used in this chapter, unless the context
otherwise requires -
''document'' means a Presidential proclamation
or Executive order and an order, regulation, rule, certificate,
code of fair competition, license, notice, or similar instrument,
issued, prescribed, or promulgated by a Federal agency;
''Federal agency'' or ''agency'' means
the President of the United States, or an executive department,
independent board, establishment, bureau, agency, institution,
commission, or separate office of the administrative branch of
the Government of the United States but not the legislative or
judicial branches of the Government;
''person'' means an individual, partnership,
association, or corporation; and
''National Archives of the United States''
has the same meaning as in section 2901(11) of this title.
§ 1502. Custody and printing of
Federal documents; appointment of Director
The Archivist of the United States, acting
through the Office of the Federal Register, is charged with the
custody and, together with the Public Printer, with the prompt
and uniform printing and distribution of the documents required
or authorized to be published by section 1505 of this title.
There shall be at the head of the Office a director, appointed
by, and who shall act under the general direction of, the Archivist
of the United States in carrying out this chapter and the regulations
prescribed under it.
§ 1503. Filing documents with Office;
notation of time; public inspection; transmission for printing
The original and two duplicate originals
or certified copies of a document required or authorized to be
published by section 1505 of this title shall be filed with the
Office of the Federal Register, which shall be open for that
purpose during all hours of the working days when the National
Archives Building is open for official business. The Archivist
of the United States shall cause to be noted on the original
and duplicate originals or certified copies of each document
the day and hour of filing. When the original is issued, prescribed,
or promulgated outside the District of Columbia, and certified
copies are filed before the filing of the original, the notation
shall be of the day and hour of filing of the certified copies.
Upon filing, at least one copy shall be immediately available
for public inspection in the Office. The original shall be retained
by the National Archives and Records Administration and shall
be available for inspection under regulations prescribed by the
Archivist, unless such original is disposed of in accordance
with disposal schedules submitted by the Administrative Committee
of the Federal Register and authorized by the Archivist pursuant
to regulations issued under chapter 33 of this title; however,
originals of proclamations of the President and Executive orders
shall be permanently retained by the Administration as part of
the National Archives of the United States. The Office shall
transmit immediately to the Government Printing Office for printing,
as provided by this chapter, one duplicate original or certified
copy of each document required or authorized to be published
by section 1505 of this title. Every Federal agency shall cause
to be transmitted for filing the original and the duplicate originals
or certified copies of all such documents issued, prescribed,
or promulgated by the agency.
§ 1504. ''Federal Register''; printing;
contents; distribution; price
Documents required or authorized to be
published by section 1505 of this title shall be printed and
distributed immediately by the Government Printing Office in
a serial publication designated the ''Federal Register.'' The
Public Printer shall make available the facilities of the Government
Printing Office for the prompt printing and distribution of the
Federal Register in the manner and at the times required by this
chapter and the regulations prescribed under it. The contents
of the daily issues shall be indexed and shall comprise all documents,
required or authorized to be published, filed with the Office
of the Federal Register up to the time of the day immediately
preceding the day of distribution fixed by regulations under
this chapter. There shall be printed with each document a copy
of the notation, required to be made by section 1503 of this
title, of the day and hour when, upon filing with the Office,
the document was made available for public inspection. Distribution
shall be made by delivery or by deposit at a post office at a
time in the morning of the day of distribution fixed by regulations
prescribed under this chapter. The prices to be charged for the
Federal Register may be fixed by the Administrative Committee
of the Federal Register established by section 1506 of this title
without reference to the restrictions placed upon and fixed for
the sale of Government publications by sections 1705 and 1708
of this title.
§ 1505. Documents to be published
in Federal Register
(a) Proclamations and Executive Orders;
Documents Having General Applicability and Legal Effect; Documents
Required To Be Published by Congress. There shall be published
in the Federal Register -
(1) Presidential proclamations and Executive
orders, except those not having general applicability and legal
effect or effective only against Federal agencies or persons
in their capacity as officers, agents, or employees thereof;
(2) documents or classes of documents that
the President may determine from time to time have general applicability
and legal effect; and
(3) documents or classes of documents that
may be required so to be published by Act of Congress. For the
purposes of this chapter every document or order which prescribes
a penalty has general applicability and legal effect.
(b) Documents Authorized To Be Published
by Regulations; Comments and News Items Excluded. In addition
to the foregoing there shall also be published in the Federal
Register other documents or classes of documents authorized to
be published by regulations prescribed under this chapter with
the approval of the President, but comments or news items of
any character may not be published in the Federal Register.
(c) Suspension of Requirements for Filing
of Documents; Alternate Systems for Promulgating, Filing, or
Publishing Documents; Preservation of Originals. In the event
of an attack or threatened attack upon the continental United
States and a determination by the President that as a result
of an attack or threatened attack -
(1) publication of the Federal Register
or filing of documents with the Office of the Federal Register
is impracticable, or
(2) under existing conditions publication
in the Federal Register would not serve to give appropriate notice
to the public of the contents of documents, the President may,
without regard to any other provision of law, suspend all or
part of the requirements of law or regulation for filing with
the Office or publication in the Federal Register of documents
or classes of documents. The suspensions shall remain in effect
until revoked by the President, or by concurrent resolution of
the Congress. The President shall establish alternate systems
for promulgating, filing, or publishing documents or classes
of documents affected by such suspensions, including requirements
relating to their effectiveness or validity, that may be considered
under the then existing circumstances practicable to provide
public notice of the issuance and of the contents of the documents.
The alternate systems may, without limitation, provide for the
use of regional or specialized publications or depositories for
documents, or of the press, the radio, or similar mediums of
general communication. Compliance with alternate systems of filing
or publication shall have the same effect as filing with the
Office or publication in the Federal Register under this chapter
or other law or regulation. With respect to documents promulgated
under alternate systems, each agency shall preserve the original
and two duplicate originals or two certified copies for filing
with the Office when the President determines that it is practicable.
§ 1506. Administrative Committee
of the Federal Register; establishment and composition; powers
and duties
The Administrative Committee of the Federal
Register shall consist of the Archivist of the United States
or Acting Archivist, who shall be chairman, an officer of the
Department of Justice designated by the Attorney General, and
the Public Printer or Acting Public Printer. The Director of
the Federal Register shall act as secretary of the committee.
The committee shall prescribe, with the approval of the President,
regulations for carrying out this chapter. The regulations shall
provide, among other things -
(1) the manner of certification of copies
required to be certified under section 1503 of this title, which
certification may be permitted to be based upon confirmed communications
from outside the District of Columbia;
(2) the documents which shall be authorized
under section 1505(b) of this title to be published in the Federal
Register;
(3) the manner and form in which the Federal
Register shall be printed, reprinted, and compiled, indexed,
bound, and distributed;
(4) the number of copies of the Federal
Register, which shall be printed, reprinted, and compiled, the
number which shall be distributed without charge to Members of
Congress, officers and employees, of the United States, or Federal
agency, for official use, and the number which shall be available
for distribution to the public; and
(5) the prices to be charged for individual
copies of, and subscriptions to, the Federal Register and reprints
and bound volumes of it.
§ 1507. Filing document as constructive
notice; publication in Federal Register as presumption of validity;
judicial notice; citation
A document required by section 1505(a)
of this title to be published in the Federal Register is not
valid as against a person who has not had actual knowledge of
it until the duplicate originals or certified copies of the document
have been filed with the Office of the Federal Register and a
copy made available for public inspection as provided by section
1503 of this title. Unless otherwise specifically provided by
statute, filing of a document, required or authorized to be published
by section 1505 of this title, except in cases where notice by
publication is insufficient in law, is sufficient to give notice
of the contents of the document to a person subject to or affected
by it. The publication in the Federal Register of a document
creates a rebuttable presumption-
(1) that it was duly issued, prescribed,
or promulgated;
(2) that it was filed with the Office of
the Federal Register and made available for public inspection
at the day and hour stated in the printed notation;
(3) that the copy contained in the Federal
Register is a true copy of the original; and
(4) that all requirements of this chapter
and the regulations prescribed under it relative to the document
have been complied with. The contents of the Federal Register
shall be judicially noticed and without prejudice to any other
mode of citation, may be cited by volume and page number.
§ 1508. Publication in Federal
Register as notice of hearing
A notice of hearing or of opportunity to
be heard, required or authorized to be given by an Act of Congress,
or which may otherwise properly be given, shall be deemed to
have been given to all persons residing within the States of
the Union and the District of Columbia, except in cases where
notice by publication is insufficient in law, when the notice
is published in the Federal Register at such a time that the
period between the publication and the date fixed in the notice
for the hearing or for the termination of the opportunity to
be heard is -
(1) not less than the time specifically
prescribed for the publication of the notice by the appropriate
Act of Congress; or
(2) not less than fifteen days when time
for publication is not specifically prescribed by the Act, without
prejudice, however, to the effectiveness of a notice of less
than fifteen days where the shorter period is reasonable.
§ 1509. Costs of publication, etc.
(a) The cost of printing, reprinting, wrapping,
binding, and distributing the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations, and, except as provided in subsection (b),
other expenses incurred by the Government Printing Office in
carrying out the duties placed upon it by this chapter shall
be charged to the revolving fund provided in section 309. Reimbursements
for such costs and expenses shall be made by the Federal agencies
and credited, together with all receipts, as provided in section
309(b).
(b) The cost of printing, reprinting, wrapping,
binding, and distributing all other publications of the Federal
Register program, and other expenses incurred by the Government
Printing Office in connection with such publications, shall be
borne by the appropriations to the Government Printing Office
and the appropriations are made available, and are authorized
to be increased by additional sums necessary for the purposes,
the increases to be based upon estimates submitted by the Public
Printer.
§ 1510. Code of Federal Regulations
(a) The Administrative Committee of the
Federal Register, with the approval of the President, may require,
from time to time as it considers necessary, the preparation
and publication in special or supplemental editions of the Federal
Register of complete codifications of the documents of each agency
of the Government having general applicability and legal effect,
issued or promulgated by the agency by publication in the Federal
Register or by filing with the Administrative Committee, and
are relied upon by the agency as authority for, or are invoked
or used by it in the discharge of, its activities or functions,
and are in effect as to facts arising on or after dates specified
by the Administrative Committee.
(b) A codification published under subsection
(a) of this section shall be printed and bound in permanent form
and shall be designated as the ''Code of Federal Regulations.''
The Administrative Committee shall regulate the binding of the
printed codifications into separate books with a view to practical
usefulness and economical manufacture. Each book shall contain
an explanation of its coverage and other aids to users that the
Administrative Committee may require. A general index to the
entire Code of Federal Regulations shall be separately printed
and bound.
(c) The Administrative Committee shall
regulate the supplementation and the collation and republication
of the printed codifications with a view to keeping the Code
of Federal Regulations as current as practicable. Each book shall
be either supplemented or collated and republished at least once
each calendar year.
(d) The Office of the Federal Register
shall prepare and publish the codifications, supplements, collations,
and indexes authorized by this section.
(e) The codified documents of the several
agencies published in the supplemental edition of the Federal
Register under this section, as amended by documents subsequently
filed with the Office and published in the daily issues of the
Federal Register shall be prima facie evidence of the text of
the documents and of the fact that they are in effect on and
after the date of publication.
(f) The Administrative Committee shall
prescribe, with the approval of the President, regulations for
carrying out this section.
(g) This section does not require codification
of the text of Presidential documents published and periodically
compiled in supplements to Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
§ 1511. International agreements
excluded from provisions of chapter
This chapter does not apply to treaties,
conventions, protocols, and other international agreements, or
proclamations thereof by the President.
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