LibGuides: Updating the Code of Federal Regulations in Print: Home

Steps to Updating the Code of Federal Regulations in Print

Listed below are the steps in updating a federal regulation to determine if it has been amended, repealed, or superseded. For this example, we will update 50 C.F.R. § 216.91.

1. Examine the regulation in the most current Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) volume. Note the date of revision on the front cover.

2. Examine the regulation in the most current Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) volume. Note the date of revision on every other page listed in the CFR.

3. Consult the most recent monthly List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA) pamphlet to see if your section is listed. If there has been a change, there will be a reference to page numbers in the Federal Register. You will need to cover the time period from step (1) to the most recent LSA pamphlet. Note that December, March, June, and September issues cumulate changes for one entire year for particular titles, so you should only have to check a few pamphlets.

This is the September 2016 LSA. It covers changes to Title 50 from October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016.

The September 2016 LSA indicates that there were changes to 50 C.F.R. 50 C.F.R. § 216.91 sometime between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2016. 50 C.F.R. § 216.91 was revised as an interim rule and there are references to pages numbers to the Federal Register where you can see the changes. Those pages are 15448 and 15449 of the 2016 Federal Register.

4. If there has been a change to regulation, there will be references to page numbers in the Federal Register where the change can be found and you should look at those pages.

This is page 15444 from the March 23, 2016 issue of the Federal Register. The changes were interim final rules that amended 50 C.F.R. § 216.91.

This is page 15448 from the March 23, 2016 issue of the Federal Register that was referenced in the September 2016 LSA. The changes were the final interim rules that revised 50 C.F.R. § 216.91.

5. Consult the last issue of the month of the Federal Register for each complete month since the month on the cover of the most recent LSA pamphlet. Check the CFR PARTS AFFECTED DURING [month] table near the back of the issue. Do not make the mistake of consulting the CFR PARTS AFFECTED IN THIS ISSUE table located near the front of each Federal Register issue.

This covers any changes to Title 50 of the CFR from October 3, 2016 to October 31, 2016. October 31, 2016 is the last issue for the month of October 2016.

There is one permanent change to 50 C.F.R. Part 216 during the month of October 2016 and that is found on page 74711 of an October 2106 issue of the Federal Register. Does this affect 50 C.F.R. § 216.91? Well, you'd have to check that issue of the Federal Register on page 74711 to find out.

This is page 74711 and 74712 of the October 27, 2016 issue of the Federal Register. As you can see, 50 C.F.R. Part 216 was affected by this final rule; however, it didn't specifically affect 50 C.F.R. § 216.91.

6. Finally, consult the most recent issue of the Federal Register available and check the CFR PARTS AFFECTED DURING [month] table, located at the end of the issue.

We would also have to check the latest issue of the Federal Register for the month of November 2016 that the library has received. This would be the Wednesday November 2, 2016 issue. The table is cumulative, covering November 1, 2016 to November 2, 2016. Note that there were no changes to 50 C.F.R. Part 216 or § 216.91.