Regulations.gov - Federal Rulemaking & Public Comment Tracker

Search and monitor federal rulemaking documents from Regulations.gov. Filter by agency (EPA, FDA, SEC, OSHA, USDA, and 100+ others), document type, and date range. Track open public comment periods, proposed rules, and final rule publications across all federal agencies. Results in minutes, not manual portal searches.

No browser automation required. Reads directly from the official Regulations.gov API.

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What You Get

Each result is one federal rulemaking document.

Field	Type	Description
documentId	string	Unique document identifier (e.g. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0434-1020)
documentTitle	string	Full document title
agencyId	string	Issuing federal agency (e.g. EPA, FDA, SEC, OSHA)
documentType	string	Type: Rule, Proposed Rule, Notice, or Public Submission
postedDate	string	Date the document was posted
commentStartDate	string	Start date of the public comment period
commentEndDate	string	Deadline for public comments
docketId	string	Parent docket identifier
frDocNum	string	Federal Register document number
summary	string	Document abstract or summary
fileFormats	string	Download URLs for attached files (comma-separated)
openForComment	string	Whether the comment period is currently open
withdrawn	string	Whether the document has been withdrawn

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Sample Output

{
  "documentId": "EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0002-0001",
  "documentTitle": "Revised Standards for Clean Air Act Section 111(d)",
  "agencyId": "EPA",
  "documentType": "Proposed Rule",
  "postedDate": "2024-02-05",
  "commentStartDate": "2024-02-05",
  "commentEndDate": "2024-04-08",
  "docketId": "EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0002",
  "frDocNum": "2024-02234",
  "summary": "The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing revised emission guidelines...",
  "openForComment": "true",
  "withdrawn": "false"
}

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Who Uses This

Regulatory affairs and compliance teams monitoring proposed rules that could affect their industry. Filter by agency and date to get a daily or weekly digest of new rulemakings relevant to your sector without manually checking the portal.

Lobbyists and government affairs professionals tracking comment periods for clients. Identify open comment windows before they close and pull the docket ID and Federal Register number needed to prepare a formal submission.

Law firms and policy consultants researching the regulatory history of an agency or topic. Search by keyword across all agencies to map the full landscape of rules and proposed rules on a subject.

Academic researchers and think tanks studying regulatory activity, agency behavior, or specific policy areas. Filter by agency, document type, and date range to build structured datasets for analysis.

Procurement and contract teams watching for regulatory changes that affect government supplier requirements, federal contractor compliance obligations, or industry certifications.

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How to Use

Step 1: Configure your input

Search by keyword across all agencies:

{
  "searchTerm": "clean air",
  "maxResults": 50
}

Filter by agency and document type:

{
  "searchTerm": "drug approval",
  "agencyId": "FDA",
  "documentType": "Proposed Rule",
  "maxResults": 25
}

Track open comment periods in a date range:

{
  "searchTerm": "financial reporting",
  "agencyId": "SEC",
  "postedDateFrom": "2024-01-01",
  "postedDateTo": "2024-12-31",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Use your own API key for higher throughput:

{
  "searchTerm": "infrastructure",
  "apiKey": "YOUR_REGULATIONS_GOV_KEY",
  "maxResults": 250
}

Input reference

Parameter	Type	Description
searchTerm	string	Keywords to search across document titles and content. Required.
agencyId	string	Federal agency filter (e.g. EPA, FDA, SEC, OSHA, USDA). Leave blank for all agencies.
documentType	string	Document type filter: Rule, Proposed Rule, Notice, Public Submission. Leave blank for all.
postedDateFrom	string	Filter documents posted on or after this date (ISO format: YYYY-MM-DD).
postedDateTo	string	Filter documents posted on or before this date (ISO format: YYYY-MM-DD).
apiKey	string	Your Regulations.gov API key. Leave blank to use DEMO_KEY (rate-limited). Register free at api.regulations.gov.
maxResults	integer	Maximum number of documents to return. Default 25, max 250.

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Cost Estimate

Pricing is $0.002 per result.

Run size	Estimated cost
25 results	~$0.05
100 results	~$0.20
250 results	~$0.50

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Output Formats

Results are available in JSON, CSV, and Excel from the Apify dataset viewer. Connect to downstream tools via the Apify API or webhooks.

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FAQ

Does this require a paid API key? No. The actor uses the free DEMO_KEY by default, which supports up to 1,000 requests per hour. For high-volume monitoring, register a free personal key at api.regulations.gov to increase your rate limit.

How do I find the agency ID for a specific agency? Use the short abbreviation used on Regulations.gov: EPA, FDA, SEC, OSHA, USDA, FTC, CFPB, DOT, HHS, DOE, and so on. The search is case-insensitive.

Can I monitor for newly opened comment periods? Yes. Run the actor on a schedule with postedDateFrom set to yesterday's date to get a daily digest of new rulemakings. Combine with documentType: "Proposed Rule" to focus only on comment-eligible documents.

Is the data real-time? Yes. The actor queries the live Regulations.gov API on each run. Results reflect the current state of the database at the time of the run, including whether a comment period is currently open.