FILING FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION AND PUBLICATION SCHEDULES

• Citation: 1 CFR Part 17
• Sections: 7

§ 17.1 Receipt and processing.

Unless special arrangements are made with the Director of the Federal Register, the Office of the Federal Register receives documents only during official working hours. Upon receipt, each document shall be held for confidential processing until it is filed for public inspection.

§ 17.2 Procedure and timing for regular schedule.

(a) Each document received shall be filed for public inspection only after it has been received, processed and assigned a publication date.

(b) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, each document received by 2:00 p.m. which meets the requirements of this chapter shall be assigned to the regular schedule. Unless the issuing agency makes special arrangements otherwise, or the Office determines that the document requires a deferred schedule (see 1 CFR 17.7), receipt of a document by 2:00 p.m. is considered to be a request for filing for public inspection and publication on the regular schedule. Documents received after 2:00 p.m. which meet the requirements of this chapter shall be assigned to the next working day's regular schedule.

(c) The regular schedule for filing for public inspection and publication is as follows:

Received before 2:00 p.m.

Filed for public inspection

Published

Monday Wednesday Thursday

Tuesday Thursday Friday

Wednesday Friday Monday

Thursday Monday Tuesday

Friday Tuesday Wednesday

Where a legal Federal holiday intervenes, one additional work day is added.

(d) Each notice of meeting issued under the “Government in the Sunshine Act” (5 U.S.C. 552b(e)(3)) is placed on immediate public inspection after it has been received, processed, and assigned a publication date.

(1) Each notice received before 4:00 p.m. is scheduled to be published 2 working days later.

(2) Each notice received after 4:00 p.m. is scheduled to be published 3 working days later.

§ 17.3 Criteria for emergency publication.

The emergency schedule is designed to provide the fastest possible publication of a document involving the prevention, alleviation, control, or relief of an emergency situation.

§ 17.4 Procedure and timing for emergency publication.

(a) Each agency requesting publication on the emergency schedule shall briefly describe the emergency and the benefits to be attributed to immediate publication in the Federal Register. The request must be made by letter.

(b) The Director of the Federal Register shall assign a document to the emergency schedule whenever the Director concurs with a request for that action and it is feasible.

(c) Each document assigned to the emergency schedule shall be published as soon as possible.

(d) Each document assigned to the emergency schedule for publication will be filed for public inspection on the working day before publication unless emergency filing for public inspection is also requested.

§ 17.5 Criteria for emergency filing for public inspection.

An agency may request emergency filing for public inspection for documents to be published under the regular, emergency or deferred publication schedules. Emergency filing for public inspection provides for the fastest possible public access to a document after it has been received, processed and assigned a publication date. Emergency filing for public inspection is considered a special arrangement under § 17.2 of this part that results in deviation from the regular schedule for filing for public inspection. A document receiving emergency filing for public inspection remains on public inspection until it is published according to the schedule for publication.

§ 17.6 Procedure and timing for emergency filing for public inspection.

(a) Each agency requesting emergency filing for public inspection shall briefly describe the emergency and the benefits to be attributed to immediate public access. The request must be made by letter.

(b) The Director of the Federal Register shall approve an emergency filing for public inspection request whenever the Director concurs with a request for that action and it is feasible.

(c) Each document approved for emergency filing for public inspection shall be filed as soon as possible following processing and scheduling.

§ 17.7 Criteria for deferred schedule.

(a) A document may be assigned to the deferred schedule under the following conditions:

(1) There are technical problems, unusual or lengthy tables, or illustrations, or the document is of such size as to require extraordinary processing time.

(2) The agency concerned requests a deferred publication date.

(b) The Office of the Federal Register staff will notify the agency if its documents must be assigned to a deferred schedule.