Federal Register Documents Scraper

Extract U.S. Federal Register documents with advanced filtering. This Actor scrapes government regulations, notices, proposed rules, and official government documents from the Federal Register public API — the official U.S. government publication of regulatory actions, legal notices, and executive orders.

Features

• Public API Access — No authentication required. Uses the official Federal Register API (no HTML scraping).
• Full-Text Search — Search all Federal Register documents by keywords (e.g., "renewable energy", "FDA approval", "climate").
• Filter by Document Type — Extract only specific document types: RULE, NOTICE, PROPOSED RULE, EXECUTIVE ORDER, etc.
• Date Range Filtering — Filter documents by publication date to track recent regulatory actions.
• Agency Filtering — Focus on specific federal agencies (e.g., Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration).
• Complete Document Data — Extract document number, title, type, abstract, publication date, effective date, agency names, and URLs.
• Pagination Support — Automatically handles pagination to retrieve thousands of documents.
• Batch Processing — Efficient batch processing for large result sets.

Data Fields

Field	Type	Description
document_number	string	Unique Federal Register document identifier (e.g., "2026-10039")
title	string	Official title of the document
type	string	Document type: RULE, NOTICE, PROPOSED RULE, etc.
abstract	string	Summary of the document's content (if available)
publication_date	date	Date the document was published in Federal Register (YYYY-MM-DD)
effective_on	date	Effective date of the rule or notice
agencies	string	Names of agencies involved (semicolon-separated)
html_url	url	Direct link to the full document on federalregister.gov
pdf_url	url	Direct link to PDF version on govinfo.gov
citation	string	Legal citation (e.g., "Federal Register: Vol 91, No. 100")
page_length	number	Number of pages in the document

Tutorial: How to Scrape Federal Register Documents

Step 1: Choose Your Search Strategy

The Actor supports multiple filtering options:

Option A: Search by Keywords Use the "Search Query" field to find documents containing specific terms.

• Example: "renewable energy" to find documents about wind, solar, and clean energy regulations
• Use case: Monitor regulatory changes in your industry

Option B: Filter by Document Type Specify which types of documents you need.

• RULE — Final federal regulations
• NOTICE — Notices, announcements, and public information
• PROPOSED RULE — Draft rules open for public comment
• EXECUTIVE ORDER — Presidential executive orders
• Example: Filter for "PROPOSED RULE" to catch upcoming regulatory changes before finalization

Option C: Filter by Agency Focus on specific federal agencies.

• environmental-protection-agency — EPA regulations
• food-and-drug-administration — FDA decisions
• department-of-labor — Labor regulations
• example-agency-slug — Use the agency slug from federalregister.gov

Option D: Filter by Date Range Track recent regulatory activity.

• Example: Set "Publication Date From" to "2026-01-01" to see regulations announced in 2026

Step 2: Configure the Actor

Minimal Setup (Retrieve Latest Documents)

1. Leave all fields blank or use defaults
2. Set "Max Results" to 200
3. Run the Actor
4. Result: ~200 of the latest Federal Register documents

Intermediate Setup (Monitor an Agency)

1. Set Agencies to ["food-and-drug-administration"]
2. Set Document Types to ["RULE", "NOTICE"]
3. Set Max Results to 500
4. Run the Actor
5. Result: Recent FDA rules and notices

Advanced Setup (Industry-Specific Research)

1. Set Search Query to "medical devices"
2. Set Document Types to ["PROPOSED RULE"]
3. Set Agencies to ["food-and-drug-administration"]
4. Set Publication Date From to 2025-01-01
5. Set Max Results to 1000
6. Run the Actor
7. Result: Proposed FDA regulations for medical devices in 2025-2026

Step 3: Review and Download Results

After the Actor completes:

1. View Results — Browse the dataset in the "Results" tab
2. Download as JSON — Export all documents for analysis
3. Download as CSV — Spreadsheet format for Excel/Sheets
4. Use via API — Access results programmatically via Apify's dataset API

Example Searches

Use Case	Query	Document Types	Agencies
Renewable Energy	"solar OR wind OR geothermal"	RULE, PROPOSED RULE	environmental-protection-agency, department-of-energy
Healthcare Regulations	"healthcare OR medical"	RULE, NOTICE	food-and-drug-administration, centers-for-medicare-medicaid-services
Labor Standards	"minimum wage OR overtime"	RULE, PROPOSED RULE	department-of-labor
Environmental	"emissions OR pollution OR water"	RULE	environmental-protection-agency
Tax Changes	"tax OR deduction"	NOTICE, RULE	internal-revenue-service

Input Parameters

{
  "query": "renewable energy",
  "documentTypes": ["RULE", "PROPOSED RULE"],
  "publicationDateGte": "2025-01-01",
  "agencies": ["environmental-protection-agency"],
  "maxResults": 500
}

Parameter Descriptions

• query (optional, string): Free-text search across all Federal Register documents
• documentTypes (optional, array): Filter by document type. Leave empty to include all types
• publicationDateGte (optional, date): Only include documents published on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
• agencies (optional, array): Filter by agency slugs from federalregister.gov
• maxResults (optional, integer): Maximum number of documents to fetch (default: 200, max: 10,000)

Output Example

[
  {
    "document_number": "2026-10039",
    "title": "Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review",
    "type": "Notice",
    "abstract": "Public comment opportunity for federal agency forms under review.",
    "publication_date": "2026-05-20",
    "effective_on": "2026-06-15",
    "agencies": "Health and Human Services Department; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention",
    "html_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/20/2026-10039/agency-forms-undergoing-paperwork-reduction-act-review",
    "pdf_url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-05-20/pdf/2026-10039.pdf",
    "citation": "Federal Register: Vol 91, No. 100",
    "page_length": 8
  },
  {
    "document_number": "2026-10087",
    "title": "Bulk Manufacturer of Controlled Substances Application",
    "type": "Notice",
    "abstract": "Application notice for bulk manufacturer registration.",
    "publication_date": "2026-05-20",
    "effective_on": "2026-07-01",
    "agencies": "Justice Department; Drug Enforcement Administration",
    "html_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/20/2026-10087/bulk-manufacturer-of-controlled-substances-application-organix-chemistry-solutions-llc",
    "pdf_url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-05-20/pdf/2026-10087.pdf",
    "citation": "Federal Register: Vol 91, No. 100",
    "page_length": 12
  }
]

Pricing

This Actor is priced per document extracted:

• $0.002 per document — Standard pricing for Federal Register documents
• Minimum run cost — ~$0.10-0.20 (typical run extracts 50-100 documents)
• Example costs:
  • 100 documents = $0.20
  • 500 documents = $1.00
  • 1,000 documents = $2.00

You also pay for Apify compute time. Most runs complete in 10-30 seconds with standard compute costs (~$0.10-0.30 per run).

Common Use Cases

1. Regulatory Intelligence for Legal Teams

Monitor upcoming federal rules that affect your clients. Filter by agency and document type to catch proposed rules before they're finalized.

2. Compliance Tracking

Track effective dates of new regulations in your industry. Export dates and titles to share with compliance teams.

3. Industry Research

Analyze regulatory trends in your vertical (healthcare, energy, finance, etc.). Search for keywords and download years of regulatory history.

4. Public Comment Preparation

Find proposed rules related to your business and extract comment deadlines and implementation details.

5. Government Affairs Intelligence

Track agency activity and regulatory workload. Monitor which agencies are most active in your sector.

Limitations & Notes

• API Source — This Actor uses the official Federal Register API (no HTML scraping). All data is publicly accessible.
• Search Scope — Searches limited to Federal Register documents (does NOT include state regulations, local ordinances, or non-regulatory federal notices).
• Response Time — Typical runs complete in 10-60 seconds depending on result volume.
• Data Freshness — Federal Register updates daily; documents appear 1-2 days after official publication.

API Features Not Included

This Actor focuses on core document extraction. The following advanced features are available via direct API but not exposed as inputs:

• Comment deadline filtering
• Sorting by relevance or date
• CFR/USC citation cross-references
• Executive order tracking

For these, query the Federal Register API directly at https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/.

Troubleshooting

Q: I got 0 results. Why?

• Your search query might be too specific. Try removing filters.
• Check agency slugs — use exact slugs from federalregister.gov.
• The date range might exclude current documents. Try removing date filters.

Q: Can I search state regulations?

• No. This Actor only covers the U.S. Federal Register. State-level data requires separate sources.

Q: How do I get agency slugs?

• Browse https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/ to see all agencies and their URL slugs.
• Examples: environmental-protection-agency, food-and-drug-administration, department-of-labor

Q: Can I export to Excel?

• Yes. Download as CSV from the results page, then open in Excel/Sheets.

Q: How often should I run this?

• The Federal Register updates daily. Run weekly or monthly for monitoring.

Legal Disclaimer

This Actor accesses only publicly available data from the official Federal Register API. You are responsible for:

• Complying with the Federal Register Terms of Use
• Understanding and following any regulations extracted (legal review recommended)
• Using data responsibly and in compliance with applicable laws

The Federal Register is a public resource; commercial use is permitted. This Actor is provided as-is for informational purposes.

Support

If you encounter issues:

1. Check that your parameters are valid (especially agency slugs)
2. Verify your date format is YYYY-MM-DD
3. Try a simpler search to isolate the problem
4. Review the Actor run logs for error messages

For questions, contact the Actor developer via Apify's support system.

See Also

• CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Scraper — Monitor security vulnerabilities in federal systems
• SEC Filings Scraper — Extract corporate financial disclosures
• FTC Actions Scraper — Track FTC enforcement actions and consumer protection notices

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Actor Version: 0.1
Last Updated: May 2026
Data Source: Federal Register API
Maintainer: seatsignal