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Collection Federal Register

About this Collection

The Federal Register is the official daily publication for Presidential Documents, Executive Orders, proposed, interim, and final rules and regulations, and notices by Federal Agencies, as well as notices of hearings, decisions, investigations, and committee meetings. The Federal Register has been published by the National Archives and Records Administration since 1936 and consists of several distinct parts.

A citation to the Federal Register–for example "77 Fed. Reg. 58945 (Sept. 25, 2012)"–gives you several pieces of information, including the volume number (in this example, the citation refers you to volume 77), the page number of that volume (here, page number 58945), and the date of the issue of the Federal Register where the publication appears (here, September 25th, 2012). The Law Library of Congress blog provides a Beginner's Guide that may be of assistance with your research in the Federal Register.

This Federal Register collection includes volumes 1-58 (1936-1993). Please note that two different bound editions of the Federal Register for 1936-1938 (volumes 1-3) were published; certain pagination and formatting in the edition available in this online collection may differ from another edition available in print or in digital format. Specifically, volume 1 through volume 3 (Issue 108) in this digital collection have different pagination than the edition available on the govinfo website of the U.S. Government Publishing Office. For information about the different bound editions and pagination of these early volumes of the Federal Register, see, for example, the following resources available on the website of the Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C.:

For volumes after 1993 through today’s edition of the Federal Register, please see govinfo from the U.S. Government Publishing Office.

If you have a question regarding the Federal Register please contact the Law Library of Congress through our Ask A Librarian service.