22. Regulations, Guidance, and Administrative Decisions

22.1 Identify the administrative instrument

A regulation, proposed rule, notice, guidance document, enforcement manual, adjudicatory decision, and press release can all appear on the same agency website. Identify the document type from the document itself. Do not describe every agency publication as a regulation. The type affects both the citation form and the legal proposition it can support.

22.2 Distinguish codified text and rulemaking publication

Use a CFR provision to identify codified regulatory text. Use the Federal Register document when discussing promulgation, explanation, amendment instructions, dates, or other rulemaking material found there. Retain separate citations when the sentence makes claims about both. A preamble passage is not automatically part of the codified operative provision.

GPO's CFR guide and Federal Register guide explain their respective publications. The acquired XML snapshots preserve selected titles for research; they do not cover every agency or every historical date.

22.3 Reconstruct the relevant date

The publication date may precede an effective date, and compliance dates may be later still. A document can amend some provisions immediately while delaying others. Check corrections, stays, postponements, and subsequent amendments when material. A search-result date is not a substitute for these terms.

For a historical question, identify the version in force at the relevant time and the source used to reconstruct it. If an electronic system offers historical versions, preserve the selected date and the downloaded text. Do not rely on a bookmark that silently returns today's version later.

22.4 Cite administrative adjudications by issuing body

Retain the proceeding name, adjudicatory body, docket or decision number, publication identifier if any, date, and pinpoint. Check whether the document is an initial decision, final agency action, designated precedent, or another category. The name of a department does not identify every decision maker within it.

EOIR's agency-decisions collection and USPTO's PTAB collections illustrate why designation should be checked at the issuing institution. EOIR decisions; PTAB designations. These links are research gateways, not conclusions about the force of an individual decision.

22.5 Preserve guidance versions

A manual may update individual chapters without republishing the whole work. Cite the actual section and version information available, and retain the archived file when permitted. Explain whether the document supplies agency guidance, a technical method, or binding requirements supported by another authority. Avoid an unqualified statement that a manual “requires” conduct without checking its legal role.