Individuals, businesses, and private and public organizations can be fined, sanctioned, forced to close, and even jailed for violating federal regulations. The oldest Federal regulatory agency still in existence is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, established in 1863 to charter and regulate national banks. The appropriate regulatory agency then create regulations necessary to implement the law. For example, the Food and Drug Administration creates its regulations under the authority of the Food Drug and Cosmetics Act , the Controlled Substances Act and several other acts created by Congress over the years. Under the APA, the agencies must publish all proposed new regulations in the Federal Register at least 30 days before they take effect, and they must provide a way for interested parties to comment, offer amendments, or to object to the regulation.
Some regulations require only publication and an opportunity for comments to become effective.
Others require publication and one or more formal public hearings. The enabling legislations states which process is to be used in creating the regulations. Regulations requiring hearings can take several months to become final. New regulations or amendments to existing regulations are known as proposed rules . Notices of public hearings or requests for comments on proposed rules are published in the Federal Register , on the Web sites of the regulatory agencies and in many newspapers and other publications.