You may locate the codified federal regulations in print and online by:
citation;
browsing or searching the table of contents;
subject using the Index and Finding Aids
consulting the annotations to a statute;
a keyword search; and,
consulting the applicable federal agency website.
The print edition of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) volumes and the Federal Register are available on the First Floor of the Library.
Free online sources for the CFR are at govinfo.gov (official), and eCFR.gov (unofficial). The CFR (unofficial version) is also available on subscription databases, such as Westlaw and Lexis, as well as FastCase.
Free online sources for the Federal Register are on govinfo.gov (official) and FederalRegister.gov (unofficial). The Federal Register (unoffiial version) is also available on subscription databases, such as Westlaw and Lexis, as well as FastCase.
Let's assume that you are looking for a regulation by citation: 14 C.F.R. 1217.106
To retrieve a federal regulation by citation from govinfo select the “Citation” tab from the homepage. Choose “Code of Federal Regulations” from the drop-down menu and select the year to search; select the most recent year to view the current regulation. Choose the title and enter the part, subpart, and section number if you have it. Then, click “Search.”
If you enter a specific section, govinfo will retrieve only the pages on which that regulation (section) appears.
To find the authority and source you will need to search for the entire Part to view the enabling legislation and determine where the regulation was first published in the Federal Register.
The Authority and Source are listed just below the table of contents for the Part in the PDF/print version.
This Content Details page is not available for individual Sections, however some individual sections may have additional Source information.
You can retrieve the official document PDF by clicking PDF in the Download list on the left of the Content Details Page, which will provide the official print version of the entire Part.
Let's look again at the regulation by citation: 14 C.F.R. 1217.106
To retrieve a federal regulation by citation on eCFR, type the citation into the search box, and hit enter or the Go button.
Searching for a specific section of the CFR on eCFR will return just that section. From this page, you can scroll for (1) previous or (2) next sections,and go back (3) to the Part.
You can also search for the entire part, by entering the search term "14 CFR Part 1217". Either from the Part or the Section, you can obtain the Source and Authority information by clicking on the Details tab on the left-hand side of the page.
This Detail information is related to the entire Part, not just a particular Section. If a section has been updated, amended or otherwise changed since the Part was enacted (in the above example, 1997), the individual section will have that update information in the body of the text on eCFR. In the Source information, the "unless otherwise noted" gives you a clue that some section(s) of that Part has been subsequently amended or changed.
Whether you begin your research with a citation to a specific regulation (e.g., 29 C.F.R. 1980.103) or to an entire Part of a Title in the CFR (e.g., 29 C.F.R. pt. 1980), you should always use the Table of Contents located at the beginning of that Part to browse for surrounding regulations, such as definitions sections, that could help you with your research.
You can browse the table of contents for the Part you are researching in the print Code of Federal Regulations or online using the govinfo website. The govinfo website allows you to browse the entire CFR and all its titles, parts, and sections.
eCFR also provides tables of content. Once you are at the Part level, there is a "Table of Contents" tab on the right.
Which will open an overlay with the table of contents.
Browsing the table of contents in a title of the CFR can help you put a regulation into context. To browse the table of contents in govinfo, select the A to Z list to browse sources, click on the letter “C,” and choose “Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 1996 to Present” from the list of publications.
Click on the plus sign + next to the year of the CFR you want to see (2021 is the most recent at the time of this writing. You can also select Most Recent, however that will return multiple results), to bring up a list of titles.
Click on the plus sign + next to a Title to open the table of contents and view its Chapters, Subchapters, Parts, and sections.
The CFR is organized in hierarchical order of Titles > Chapters > sub-chapters > Parts > and Sections. Chapters and Parts will have Tables of Content (TOC)
You can download a PDF that is as general or specific as you need—the entire title, an entire chapter, subchapter, an entire part, or a section within a part.
Browsing the table of contents in eCFR can help you put a regulation into context.
To browse the table of contents in eCFR, select a Title and click on it. Then you will be able to see Chapters, subchapters, Parts, subparts and Sections. Note on the right side of the page is a list with the Part/Section numbers related to a Table entry. From this page you can expand and collapse each Title, Chapters, subchapters, Parts, and subparts using the ► at each level.
Indexes can be very helpful for locating relevant federal regulations by subject. The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) includes a CFR Index and Finding Aids volume.
The CFR Index and Finding Aids is available in print and online (PDF) through the govinfo website.
The listing in the CFR Index (print version) for filing a retaliation complaint under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (29 CFR § 1980.103) is shown below:
The CFR Index and Finding Aids also contains a Parallel Table of Authorities & Rules available in print and online (PDF) on govinfo, which provides a list of U.S. Code sections along with their corresponding federal regulations. Below is an example of the page in the Parallel Table of Authorities and Rules that includes a listing for 18 U.S.C. § 1514A and 29 Part 1980 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Keep in mind that regulations may be listed by the code section within an Act that authorizes a federal agency to promulgate regulations.
To access the CFR Index and Finding Aids on govinfo, select the A to Z list to browse sources, click on the letter “C,” and choose “CFR Index and Finding Aids” from the list of publications.
Or, you may browse by Category for "Regulatory Information," and choose the “CFR Index and Finding Aids” from the list.
Click on the plus sign + next to a year of the CFR Index and Finding Aids, generally the most recent. Then, click on the plus sign + next to that year to view the contents of the CFR Index and Finding Aids. Click on the PDF button to view the CFR Subject/Agency Index portion of the publication. Then use a Control-F or Command-F search to find specific index terms.
eCFR does not provide the Index and Finding Aids, but is searchable. And, you can browse the eCFR by Title or by Agency.
Often you will begin your research with a federal statute and will need to determine the agency and regulations, if any, that implement and enforce that law. The annotations to a section in an annotated code, in print or via Westlaw or Lexis, may include references to CFR sections associated with that statutory section.
For example, the following reference to the federal regulations governing procedures for handling complaints under the whistleblower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act appears in the Research References and Practice Aids to 18 U.S.C.S. § 1514A, in Lexis:
In Westlaw, you will have to search within the Citing References to 18 U.S.C.S. § 1514A and select Regulations.
If you do not see a reference to a relevant regulation for the specific statute you are researching, try using the table of contents to find a statute that authorizes a particular federal administrative agency to promulgate regulations. Then check the annotations to that authorizing statute.
Keyword searching the text of the entire Code of Federal Regulations on govinfo.gov can yield too many results. To best search federal regulations by keyword, if possible, narrow your search to the table of contents or a specific title of the Code of Federal Regulations and filter your results.
You can use the Advanced Search feature of the govinfo website to search the Full-Text of the Code of Federal Regulations, which allows you to "refine" your initial search by publication, by date, by agency author, and by title.
When using the advanced search, you may have to play with your search categories and terms. If you use a phrase as a search term, remember to put it in quotes - i.e. the name of an Act, or other related law.
You can also do a full text search of the eCFR content. By default the search is performed on the current content of the eCFR, you can also use the date field to search eCFR content from as it appeared at a specific point in time.
If you click on the “Search” link in the top navigation bar you’ll be taken to a page where you specify your search terms and optionally limit to a particular title or date.
Even when doing keyword searches in the subscription databases such as Westlaw and Lexis you will have to filter by at lest the CFR title, as a keyword search in the entire CFR will return hundreds or thousands of results.
Federal agency websites can be great resources for quickly identifying both the laws agencies are in charge of administering and the regulations they have written to implement them.
For example, OSHA maintains its whistleblowers.gov website for the over twenty whistleblower statutes it enforces. The website includes a Laws and Policy Guidance button at the top of the page to access links to statutes and regulations.
A federal agency may also post guidance documents such as opinion letters, policy interpretations, and compliance manuals on its website, as well as its formal and informal decisions adjudicating disputes over compliance with its regulations. The design of federal agency websites will differ from agency to agency, and you may need to browse or search the website of the agency to locate the document(s) you are searching for.
