44 U.S.C. § 1505 (PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS)
§ 1505. Documents to be published in Federal Register
(a) Proclamations and Executive Orders; Documents Having General Applicability and Legal Effect; Documents Required To Be Published by Congress.
There shall be published in the Federal Register—
(1) Presidential proclamations and Executive orders, except those not having general applicability and legal effect or effective only against Federal agencies or persons in their capacity as officers, agents, or employees thereof;
(2) documents or classes of documents that the President may determine from time to time have general applicability and legal effect; and
(3) documents or classes of documents that may be required so to be published by Act of Congress.
For the purposes of this chapter every document or order which prescribes a penalty has general applicability and legal effect.
(b) Documents Authorized To Be Published by Regulations; News Commentary and News Items Excluded.
In addition to the foregoing there shall also be published in the Federal Register other documents or classes of documents authorized to be published by regulations prescribed under this chapter with the approval of the President, but news commentary or news items of any character may not be published in the Federal Register.
(c) Alternative Publication.—
In a continuity of operations event in which the Government Publishing Office does not fulfill the publication requirements of this chapter, the Office of the Federal Register may establish an alternative method to publish the Federal Register until such time that the Government Publishing Office resumes publication.
(d) Suspension of Requirements for Filing of Documents; Alternate Systems for Promulgating, Filing, or Publishing Documents; Preservation of Originals.
In the event of an attack or threatened attack upon the continental United States and a determination by the President that as a result of an attack or threatened attack—
(1) publication of the Federal Register or filing of documents with the Office of the Federal Register is impracticable, or
(2) under existing conditions publication in the Federal Register would not serve to give appropriate notice to the public of the contents of documents, the President may, without regard to any other provision of law, suspend all or part of the requirements of law or regulation for filing with the Office or publication in the Federal Register of documents or classes of documents.
The suspensions shall remain in effect until revoked by the President, or by concurrent resolution of the Congress. The President shall establish alternate systems for promulgating, filing, or publishing documents or classes of documents affected by such suspensions, including requirements relating to their effectiveness or validity, that may be considered under the then existing circumstances practicable to provide public notice of the issuance and of the contents of the documents. The alternate systems may, without limitation, provide for the use of regional or specialized publications or depositories for documents, or of the press, the radio, telecommunications, the Internet, or similar mediums of general communication. Compliance with alternate systems of filing or publication shall have the same effect as filing with the Office or publication in the Federal Register under this chapter or other law or regulation. With respect to documents promulgated under alternate systems, each agency shall preserve the original document for filing with the Office when the President determines that it is practicable.
(Pub. L. 90–620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1274; Pub. L. 118–267, § 2(e), Jan. 4, 2025, 138 Stat. 2984.)
heading: Historical and Revision Notes
text: Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964, ed., § 305 (July 26, 1935, ch. 417, § 5, 49 Stat. 501; June 25, 1956, ch. 444, 70 Stat. 337).
heading: Editorial Notes
heading: Amendments
text: 2025—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 118–267, § 2(e)(1), substituted “News Commentary” for “Comments” in heading and “news commentary” for “comments” in text.
Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 118–267, § 2(e)(2), (3), added subsec. (c) and redesignated former subsec. (c) as (d).
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 118–267, § 2(e)(4), in concluding provisions, inserted “telecommunications, the Internet,” after “the press, the radio,” and substituted “the original document” for “the original and two duplicate originals or two certified copies”.
heading: Executive Documents
heading: Delegation of Functions
text: For delegation of functions vested in President by section 5(a) of Federal Register Act [now subsec. (a) of this section], to Attorney General and Archivist of United States, see section 6(a) of Ex. Ord. No. 10530, May 10, 1954, 19 F.R. 2709, as amended, set out as a note under section 301 of Title 3, The President. See, also, section 103(b)(1) of Pub. L. 98–497, set out as a note under section 2102 of this title.
heading: Ex. Ord. No. 11030. Preparation, Presentation, Filing, and Publication of Executive Orders and Proclamations
text: Ex. Ord. No. 11030, June 19, 1962, 27 F.R. 5847, as amended by Ex. Ord. No. 11354, May 23, 1967, 32 F.R. 7695; Ex. Ord. No. 12080, Sept. 18, 1978, 43 F.R. 42235; Ex. Ord. No. 12608, Sept. 9, 1987, 52 F.R. 34617; Ex. Ord. No. 13403, § 1, May 12, 2006, 71 F.R. 28543; Ex. Ord. No. 13683, § 1, Dec. 11, 2014, 79 F.R. 75041, provided:
By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Federal Register Act (49 Stat. 500, as amended; 44 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) [now this chapter], and as President of the United States, I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the preparation, presentation, filing, and publication of Executive orders and proclamations:
Section 1. Form. Proposed Executive orders and proclamations shall be prepared in accordance with the following requirements:
(a) The order or proclamation shall be given a suitable title.
(b) The order or proclamation shall contain a citation of the authority under which it is issued.
(c) Punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and other matters of style shall, in general, conform to the most recent edition of the Style Manual of the United States Government Printing Office.
(d) The spelling of geographic names shall conform to the decisions of the Board on Geographic Names, established by Section 2 of the Act of July 25, 1947, 61 Stat. 456 (43 U.S.C. 364a).
(e) Descriptions of tracts of land shall conform, so far as practicable, to the most recent edition of the “Specifications for Descriptions of Tracts of Land for Use in Executive Orders and Proclamations,” prepared by the Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior.
(f) Proposed Executive orders and proclamations shall be prepared on paper approximately 8.5 × 14 inches, shall have a left-hand margin of approximately 1 inch and a right-hand margin of approximately 1 inch, and shall be double-spaced, except that quotations, tabulations, and descriptions of land may be single-spaced.
(g) Proclamations issued by the President shall conclude with the following described recitation—
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ________ day of ________, in the year of our lord ________, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the ________.
Sec. 2. Routing and approval of drafts. (a) A proposed Executive order or proclamation shall first be submitted to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, together with a letter, signed by the head or other properly authorized officer of the originating Federal agency, explaining the nature, purpose, background, and effect of the proposed Executive order or proclamation and its relationship, if any, to pertinent laws and other Executive orders or proclamations.
(b) If the Director of the Office of Management and Budget approves the proposed Executive order or proclamation, he shall transmit it to the Attorney General for his consideration as to both form and legality.
(c) If the proposed Executive order or proclamation is disapproved by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget or by the Attorney General, it shall not thereafter be presented to the President unless it is accompanied by a statement of the reasons for such disapproval.
Sec. 3. Routing and certification of originals and copies. (a) If the order or proclamation is signed by the President, the original and two copies thereof shall be forwarded to the Director of the Office of the Federal Register for publication in the Federal Register.
(b) The Office of the Federal Register shall cause to be placed upon the copies of all Executive orders and proclamations forwarded as provided in subsection (a) of this section the following notation, to be signed by the Director or by some person authorized by him to sign such notation: “Certified to be a true copy of the original.”
Sec. 4. Proclamations calling for the observance of special days or events. Except as may be otherwise provided by law, responsibility for the preparation and presentation of proposed proclamations calling for the observance of special days, or other periods of time, or events shall be assigned by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to such agencies or offices as the Director may consider appropriate. Such proposed proclamations shall be submitted to the Director, or to an office within the Executive Office of the President designated by the Director, at least sixty days before the date of the specified observance. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 2, the Director or the head of such designated office, as appropriate, shall transmit any approved commemorative proclamations to the President.
Sec. 5. Trade Proclamations. (a) Proclamations to be issued under the Trade Act of 1974 or other trade law (“trade proclamations”) shall be prepared by the United States Trade Representative and submitted to the Attorney General for consideration as to both form and legality. Section 2 of this order does not apply to trade proclamations.
Sec. 6. Proclamations of treaties excluded. Consonant with the provisions of section 1511 of title 44, United States Code (49 Stat. 503 [sic]; 44 U.S.C. 1511), nothing in this order shall be construed to apply to treaties, conventions, protocols, or other international agreements, or proclamations thereof by the President.
Sec. 7. Definition. The term “Presidential proclamations and Executive orders,” as used in subsection 1505(a) of title 44, United States Code (44 U.S.C. 1505(a)), shall, except as the President or his representative may hereafter otherwise direct, be deemed to include such attachments thereto as are referred to in the respective proclamations or orders.
Sec. 8. Prior order. Upon its publication in the Federal Register, this order shall supersede Executive Order No. 10006 of October 9, 1948.
The regulations prescribed by this order shall be codified under Title 1 of the Code of Federal Regulations.