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U.S. Administrative Law Research

A guide to finding regulations and administrative decisions issued by federal agencies

Updating Regulations

Regulations are subject to frequent change. It is important to update your research to be sure that you have the current version.

Online

Online sources are generally updated more quickly than print sources. Look at the top of the screen in each source for an indication of how current the source is. The free e-CFR integrates newly adopted regulations.

Print

The List of Sections Affected (LSA) is a tool used to determine if a particular CFR section has been revised by later action published in the Federal Register.

Here is the step-by-step process if you are updating a regulation in the CFR using the List of Sections Affected and the Federal Register.

  1. Note the date of revision on the cover of the CFR volume that contains your regulation, e.g. "Revised as of October 1, 2005."
  2. Check the most recent monthly List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA).
    • The LSAs are arranged by CFR title and section.
    • If there have been any changes, the LSA will tell you the nature of the changes and provide references to pages in the Federal Register.
    • Note: Because of the revision schedule, occasionally you may need to check an older LSA pamphlet as well. The main thing is to look at the dates of the CFR and LSA volumes to make sure you have continuous coverage from the time your CFR regulation was last revised up until the present.
  3. Now go to the Federal Register. Consult the last day of each month since the LSA pamphlet that you looked at in the previous step. There will be a section in the back called "List of CFR Parts Affected during [month]."
  4. The last step is to check the last day of the current month in the Federal Register.