21.32A. Administrative regulations, etc., that are not laws

Scope of the rule:

1. The rule is only for the United States and any other country in which administrative regulations, etc., are not laws. Britain and Canada are prominent examples of exclusion from 21.32A. 21.32B is the rule for these and other countries in which the regulations, etc., are laws.

2. Note that the rule covers more than regulations. A summary of the major types of U.S. publications that fall under the rule are

a. rules or regulations: statements of general or specific applicability designed to implement or interpret law or policy;

b. licenses: permits, certificates, or other forms of permission;

c. advisory opinions: advice regarding proposed action; the advice is not binding but serves only to convey authoritative interpretations or statutes or regulations;

d. decisions: statements adjudicating controversies that arise from the violation or interpretation of statues and administrative review, administrative law judges, hearing examiners, and other officers through administrative decisions.

Definition of "promulgating agency":

A promulgating agency, also referred to as a "regulatory agency," is an administrative body other than a court or legislature to which the power to make and issue regulations, etc., has been delegated by statute.

A promulgating agency may or may not be identified in the publication. The only agency identified may be the one responsible solely for disseminating and publishing the regulations. It is important to recognize the special function of "promulgating" and conversely the simple function of "publishing," since a few publications do not state the name of the promulgating agency.

In these few cases, look for the authorization in the appropriate administrative and statutory codes, etc. If the question is approached by consulting statutory material, the exact wording of such authorization varies (" . . . shall promulgate and publish . . .," " . . .shall have the power to issue regulations . . .," " . . .shall determine the . . . adequate . . .service to be furnished, and shall fix the same by its order, rule, or regulation . . ."), but the meaning is always clear.

Sources of U.S. administrative regulations:

For U.S. federal regulations, etc., consult the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations, and/or the U.S. Code, as appropriate. For state regulations, consult the administrative code of the particular state, etc., or the state’s statutes.

Note that these reference sources are compilations of regulations, etc., or statutes actually in force at the date of publication or revision. Any sections that have been amended, superseded, or repealed can be located in earlier volumes or editions. Any sections valid after the date of that revision can be located in later volumes (or in the case of statutory publications, in annual session laws, pocket supplements, or supplementary services). Do not simply follow an existing pattern for similar or related publications, because a body’s power to promulgate regulations, etc., is not necessarily permanent.

Choice of main entry heading:

1. Identify the promulgating agency (see Definition of "promulgating agency" above), and enter under it, even if it is only named as publisher but positively identified as the promulgating agency.

2. For foreign publications, if a positive identification of the promulgating agency is not possible, enter under title.

3. Give in a local note field ( FN 1) the source on which the main entry heading is based.

Example A

Added entries for laws:

If the regulations, etc., derive from a particular law, make an added entry for that law if this information is named in the preliminaries or prefatory matter or the text of the law is appended to the publication itself. (In the latter case, the added entry is an analytical one.)

Example B

Statement of responsibility in the bibliographic description:

If the promulgating agency cannot be named in the statement of responsibility, it is inappropriate to name the issuing or publishing body there since such a body has no responsibility for the content of the publication if it acts only as publisher. (If the issuing agency is not named in the publication, distribution, etc., area, the added entry for the agency required by the rule is justified in the note area (cf. 21.29F1).)