Federal Register Search - Rules, Regulations, Notices & Executive Orders

Search the Federal Register for rules, proposed rules, notices, and presidential documents. Filter by keyword, agency, date range, CFR title and part, and significance level. Track open comment periods, regulatory changes, and executive orders across any federal agency. Export structured results with publication dates, effective dates, comment deadlines, and PDF links.

Data is sourced from the official Federal Register API at federalregister.gov. No API key required.

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Output Fields

Field	Type	Description
documentNumber	string	Federal Register document number
documentTitle	string	Document title
documentType	string	Type: Rule, Proposed Rule, Notice, Presidential Document
abstract	string	Document abstract or summary
publicationDate	string	Date published in the Federal Register
effectiveOn	string	Date the rule or action takes effect
commentsCloseOn	string	Comment period closing date (for proposed rules)
agencies	array	Issuing federal agencies
significant	boolean	Whether this is a significant/major rule (economic impact > $100M)
htmlUrl	string	Link to the full document on federalregister.gov
pdfUrl	string	Link to the PDF version

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Use Cases

• Regulatory compliance monitoring — Track new rules and proposed rules affecting your industry before they take effect. Set up recurring runs filtered by agency and CFR part.
• Legal and policy research — Search historical rulemaking activity by agency, topic, or CFR reference. Pull abstracts and effective dates for regulatory timeline analysis.
• Government affairs and lobbying — Find proposed rules with open comment periods so clients can submit timely public comments.
• ESG and sustainability analysis — Monitor EPA, DOE, and SEC rulemaking on climate, emissions, and disclosure requirements.
• Investment and risk research — Track significant rules (economic impact > $100M) that may affect regulated industries: healthcare, finance, energy, telecommunications.
• Academic and think tank research — Aggregate rulemaking data by agency, year, or significance for regulatory volume analysis.

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How to Use

Provide a search term and optionally filter by agency, date range, document type, CFR reference, or significance. Leave term empty to retrieve all documents matching the other filters.

Example input — cybersecurity regulations from the SEC:

{
  "term": "cybersecurity",
  "agencies": ["securities-and-exchange-commission"],
  "documentTypes": ["RULE", "PROPOSED_RULE"],
  "dateFrom": "2023-01-01",
  "dateTo": "2024-12-31",
  "significant": false,
  "maxResults": 100
}

Example input — all significant rules from 2024:

{
  "term": "",
  "documentTypes": [],
  "agencies": [],
  "dateFrom": "2024-01-01",
  "dateTo": "2024-12-31",
  "significant": true,
  "maxResults": 500
}

Example input — EPA proposed rules with open comment periods (CFR Title 40):

{
  "term": "",
  "agencies": ["environmental-protection-agency"],
  "documentTypes": ["PROPOSED_RULE"],
  "cfrTitle": "40",
  "dateFrom": "2024-01-01",
  "significant": false,
  "maxResults": 200
}

Example input — executive orders:

{
  "term": "",
  "documentTypes": ["PRESIDENTIAL_DOCUMENT"],
  "agencies": [],
  "dateFrom": "2025-01-01",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Document Type Options

RULE, PROPOSED_RULE, NOTICE, PRESIDENTIAL_DOCUMENT — or leave the array empty for all types.

Agency Slugs

Use the agency slug format from federalregister.gov (e.g. environmental-protection-agency, securities-and-exchange-commission, federal-reserve-system, centers-for-medicare-medicaid-services). Find all agency slugs at federalregister.gov/agencies.

CFR Reference

Use cfrTitle and cfrPart to filter by Code of Federal Regulations section. Example: Title 40 (Protection of Environment), Part 60 (Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources).

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Cost

Approximately $0.10 per run (platform start fee) plus minimal compute. Most runs complete in under 30 seconds.

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Output Formats

Results are available as JSON, CSV, and Excel from the Apify dataset interface. Use htmlUrl or pdfUrl to access the full document text.

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FAQ

Does this require an API key? No. The federalregister.gov API is public and requires no authentication.

How far back does Federal Register data go? The Federal Register API covers documents from 1994 onward. For documents before 1994, consult govinfo.gov.

What is a "significant" rule? Under Executive Order 12866, a significant regulatory action is one with an annual economic effect of $100 million or more, or one that raises novel legal or policy issues. These rules require additional White House review.

What is a CFR title and part? The Code of Federal Regulations organizes all federal regulations by title (broad subject area) and part (specific regulatory program). Title 40 covers environmental regulations, Title 26 covers tax, Title 21 covers food and drugs, etc.

How do I find comment periods that are still open? Filter by documentTypes: ["PROPOSED_RULE"] and set dateFrom to a recent date. The commentsCloseOn field shows the deadline. Compare it to today's date to identify open periods.

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