CFR Index Thesaurus of Indexing Terms and Agency

CFR Index, Thesaurus of Indexing Terms, and Agency List of Subjects

Office of the Federal Register CFR INDEX • Finding Aid developed to assist users in better navigating the Code of Federal Regulations. • Annual publication, revised as of January 1. • Published under authority of 44 U. S. C. 1504 and 1510(b). • Regulations found at 1 CFR 6. 3 and 8. 4. • Consists of: § § § Subject Index for the CFR List of agency-prepared indexes Parallel Table of Authorities and Rules List of CFR Titles, Chapters, Subchapters and Parts Alphabetical list of Agencies appearing in the CFR 2

Office of the Federal Register SUBJECT INDEX • Content made up of terms, agency names and cross-references. • Arranged in alphabetical order. • CFR Parts arranged under each applicable term or agency name using subheadings where useful. • Terms appearing in Index are taken primarily from the Thesaurus of Indexing Terms. • Additional terms used not in Thesaurus for geographic locations, specific commodities, and industry terms as allowed.

Office of the Federal Register THESAURUS OF INDEXING TERMS • Need for an index consisting of standardized terms suggested in comments to a 1974 notice document. • Notices published requesting public and agency input for usable terms and indexing sources. • First Thesaurus published March 7, 1977. • Subsequent updates published February 17, 1981, June 16, 1983 and September 19, 1990. • Last complete Thesaurus published November 16, 1995. This version available online at: http: //www. archives. gov/federalregister/cfr/thesaurus. html

Office of the Federal Register LIST OF SUBJECTS • Agencies initially asked to use terms in proposed rule and rule documents on a trial basis in 1977. • Two proposed rules published in 1980 would require agencies to incorporate a List of Subjects in future rule and proposed rule documents. Final rule published January 22, 1981. • Subjects were to be taken primarily from Thesaurus of Indexing Terms or acceptable industry, commodity and geographic terms. • Agencies required to use at least one or more terms from Thesaurus. • Variants and additional terms acceptable but would be picked up under existing terms or not carried in CFR Index if too specific or technical. • Guidance for creating the List of Subjects can be found in Document Drafting Handbook under Section 2. 6.

Office of the Federal Register LIST OF SUBJECTS Full vs. Partial • Informed recently that some agencies have sent partial lists of subjects in rule/proposed rule documents in the past. • OFR has no way of knowing whether it is partial or complete. Anything not included in any List of Subjects will be removed for that part. • Agencies are responsible for including a complete list of subject terms for any amendment that requires a List of Subjects in the document. • Our office will clarify the wording in the next revision of the Document Drafting Handbook.

Office of the Federal Register LIST OF SUBJECTS BY CFR PART • List of Subjects by CFR Part, located on NARA/OFR page has been outdated since 2004. • Created in 2004 using software no longer used by our office. Further updates were not considered practical until recent change in procedures. Updates should continue regularly on a quarterly basis. • Updated material should be posted within a few days. • Require agency assistance to verify entries. • Corrections to list should be emailed to: frsubjectlist@gpo. gov • This should be used only once to correct what is wrong with our current list. Future changes should be done through the List of Subjects section in future rule/proposed rule documents.

Office of the Federal Register CFR Index and List of Subjects Questions? • Questions about the CFR Index or Thesaurus contact: Brian Swidal eswidal@gpo. gov; brian. swidal@gpo. gov 202 741 -6081 • Document Drafting Handbook: http: //www. archives. gov/federal-register/write/handbook • Thesaurus of Indexing Terms: http: //www. archives. gov/federalregister/cfr/thesaurus. html • Changes to the List of Subjects by CFR Part frsubjectlist@nara. gov