General Legal & Policy Research
Federal
Federal Register
What: The Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), publishes the Federal Register. The Federal Register contains proposed and final federal rules and notices promulgated by Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. The Section Description page provides helpful descriptions of the contents of each Federal Register section. The Federal Reserve Board Law Library produced, "A Research Guide to the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations", which provides further background and explanation of the Federal Register.
How to search: You may search the Federal Register site by Specific Issue and Page if users already know the specific Federal Register issue number or date and page (For example: 2003 Federal Register, Vol. 68, page 12345); by Simple Search, which permits keyword search of any issue; by Table of Contents, which permits browsing sections of recent and past issues of the Federal Register; Advanced Search,, which permits a more focused search of the Federal Register by issue, section, issue date, and keyword.
Helpful hints: In addition to the specific page number search functions, users may also use the Simple Search or keyword-type search tool to find specific page of the Federal Register. In the Simple Search box, users should put quotes around specific page numbers needed (eg: enter "page 12345"). Users may also search CFR sections on the Federal Register Web site, but they are only searchable by title and part, not sections. To search CFR by title and section (format of most citations) see the CFR section of this manual. The Browse feature is also helpful if you know the date of publication (or have a sense of a few dates) and the publishing agency.
Last updated: The GPO Access Federal Register site (linked above) receives updates daily by 6 a.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Other Web sites: In addition to the GPO Access Federal Register site provided above, other sites on the Web provide access to the Federal Register, including:
