The Federal Register is the official publication for the federal government’s administrative agencies. It is published every business day and includes updates, rules and proposed rules as well as notices.

Once each year the information is compiled into volumes called the Code of Federal Regulations. If you see a legal citation that looks like this -- 20 CFR § 416. 112 -- this means that you are being referred to title 20 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 416.112. There are 50 titles and the CFRs are updated once each year, which means that any changes since that date will be in the Federal Register.

To be accurate, you should look at the CFR and the Federal Register.

• You can go on-line to search the Federal Register for information from 1995 to the present.
• Tips on searching the Code of Federal Regulations online.

Interested in finding out about which government rules are pending? Want to make comments? The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration will show you which rules are open for comments

Each volume of the CFR is revised once each calendar year and is issued on a quarterly basis approximately as follows:

Title 1 through Title 16...........................as of January 1

Title 17 through Title 27.........................as of April 1

Title 28 through Title 41.........................as of July 1

Title 42 through Title 50.........................as of October 1

Last date of legal review 1/13/03 (MLAN)

Source: Maryland Legal Assistance Network (MLAN)