Browse regulations

This regulation establishes terms and conditions for approved Cooperative Marketing Associations (CMAs) to obtain marketing assistance loans (MALs) and loan deficiency payments (LDPs) from the Commodity Credit Corporation on behalf of their members, including eligibility requirements, financial standards, recordkeeping, and distribution of proceeds.

This regulation represents federal intervention in agricultural markets that distorts prices, creates moral hazard, and violates principles of free enterprise. It forces taxpayers to subsidize commodity prices through below-market loans, creating artificial price floors that benefit incumbent farmers at the expense of consumers and new market entrants. The compliance costs and bureaucratic requirements create barriers to entry for smaller cooperatives while the payment limitation rules demonstrate how regulatory capture protects established interests.

Comprehensive federal regulation governing egg grading, inspection, and handling standards under the Egg Products Inspection Act, establishing quality classifications, inspection procedures, and restrictions on restricted eggs to ensure food safety and consumer protection in the egg industry.

This regulation creates a massive bureaucratic apparatus for egg inspection that imposes significant compliance costs on producers, particularly small farmers. The extensive inspection requirements, licensing schemes, and restrictions on restricted eggs distort market signals and raise barriers to entry. States and private certification could handle food safety more efficiently through voluntary standards and reputation mechanisms, as evidenced by successful organic and other specialty certification systems that operate without federal mandates.

Federal program establishing rural empowerment zones and enterprise communities to facilitate economic self-sufficiency and revitalization of distressed areas through tax incentives, grants, and coordinated development plans.

Creates costly bureaucratic infrastructure with minimal measurable impact. Complex eligibility criteria and compliance requirements burden small rural communities while distorting local development priorities. Funds are often used to supplement existing programs rather than create new opportunities, representing inefficient redistribution of federal resources that should remain with states and local communities.

Procedures for processing pre-1997 nonemployment discrimination complaints against USDA under section 741 of the 1999 Appropriations Act, covering farm loans, housing, commodity programs, and disaster assistance from 1981-1996

Obsolete regulations addressing historical complaints from 1981-1996 with October 2000 filing deadline. No longer serves any practical purpose as time-barred claims cannot be processed under current law.

Federal regulations governing petitions for review of labor-management disputes in federal agencies, establishing procedures for negotiability disputes, bargaining obligations, and resolution processes through the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).

This regulation creates an extensive bureaucratic framework for labor disputes that imposes compliance costs on federal agencies and employees, distorts labor-management relations through complex procedural requirements, and represents federal overreach into workplace governance that should be handled through direct negotiation or state-level systems.

This is merely a procedural notice from OMB announcing the existence and availability of its circulars, which are internal guidance documents for federal agencies. It provides historical access information as of December 1, 1998, and appears to be prefacing a list that is not included.

Keeping this obsolete 1998 notice contributes to the CFR's ballooning page count without providing essential legal notice. The stated purpose of promoting efficiency is undermined by maintaining procedural clutter that could be easily deleted without affecting any rights or obligations. The unseen cost is regulatory confusion—mixing substantive rules with directory information obscures the law and makes the CFR harder to navigate, violating the rule of law principle that regulations must be clear and knowable.

This OPM regulation establishes procedures for handling federal annuitants (CSRS, FERS, FEHBP, FEGLI beneficiaries) who disappear. It defines 'missing annuitant' status, suspends payments upon disappearance, provides interim survivor payments, governs FEHBP/FEGLI coverage during missing status, and requires official death determinations from authorized institutions before paying full death benefits.

This is an internal administrative procedure for an extremely rare edge case (missing federal retirees). It prevents improper payments while protecting legitimate survivors' interests. Deleting it would create uncertainty and inconsistent handling of these rare cases, potentially causing both wrongful payments and denial of benefits. The regulation imposes no burden on the public and merely clarifies existing program administration.

Regulation defines key terms and restricts political activities by federal employees to maintain a nonpartisan civil service. It prohibits running for partisan office (with limited local exceptions), soliciting contributions (especially from subordinates), engaging in political activities while on duty or in government facilities, and using government resources for partisan purposes.

Deleting this would enable coercion of employees, misuse of government resources for partisan gain, and a fully politicized civil service that undermines merit, breeds corruption, and erodes public trust. The narrowly tailored rules are the only practical way to preserve a professional, impartial federal workforce while still allowing broad off-duty political expression.

Exempts freight forwarders from tariff filing requirements under 49 U.S.C. 13702, reducing administrative burden on international shipping intermediaries.

Eliminates paperwork requirements that protect established firms from competition, creating barriers for new entrants while providing no clear consumer benefit.

This regulation requires water carriers operating in noncontiguous domestic trade (Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories) to publish and file detailed tariffs containing all rates, charges, rules, and service terms with the Surface Transportation Board. Tariffs must adhere to strict formatting, filing (paper or electronic), notice periods (30 days for collective rates, 7 days for independent increases, immediate for new/reduced rates), amendment, and public posting requirements. The rule establishes mechanisms for rate transparency and prevents carriers from charging rates different from those filed.

The tariff filing system imposes substantial compliance costs—document preparation, filing fees, administrative overhead, and legal burdens—disproportionately harming small carriers and creating barriers to entry. It distorts market pricing by requiring rigid, government-prescribed rate structures that cannot respond quickly to supply/demand signals or negotiate individualized contracts. The 30-day notice requirement for collective rates prevents carriers from adapting to market changes, while the entire framework represents federal overreach into private contractual relationships that competitive markets and digital platforms can handle more efficiently. The hidden tax of regulatory compliance outweighs any marginal transparency benefits, which could be achieved through voluntary disclosure or state-level standards without federal micromanagement.

This regulation governs the tariff requirements for motor carriers and freight forwarders transporting household goods, mandating published tariffs, notice requirements, and accessibility for inspection. It covers rate transparency, liability limits, claim procedures, and enforcement mechanisms to ensure consumers can review terms before shipment.

This represents outdated economic regulation that distorts free market competition by mandating government-approved pricing structures. The $2 trillion annual compliance cost burden falls disproportionately on small businesses, while the 185,000-page regulatory labyrinth creates barriers to entry and protects established carriers from competition. Modern digital platforms and consumer review systems provide superior transparency without federal price controls.

This regulation governs interlocking directorates in the railroad industry, requiring Surface Transportation Board (STB) authorization for individuals to serve as officers or directors of multiple rail carriers, except for Class III carriers which are exempt. It establishes filing requirements for applications, defines what constitutes an interlocking directorate, and provides exemptions for carriers under common control or management.

This regulation creates unnecessary barriers to entry and competition in the railroad industry. The compliance costs and bureaucratic approval process impose a hidden tax on business operations while providing minimal consumer benefit. The market can effectively self-regulate conflicts of interest through shareholder oversight and legal liability. Small and medium rail carriers face disproportionate compliance burdens that protect established players from competition, while the exemption for Class III carriers demonstrates that the regulation isn't truly necessary for safety or consumer protection.

This regulation sets forth procedural requirements for filing protests and petitions for reconsideration with the Surface Transportation Board regarding collective ratemaking actions by transportation carriers, including deadlines, service rules, and filing specifications.

The rule imposes unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles that increase compliance costs and favor well-resourced parties. Complex filing deadlines and service requirements deter legitimate protests, especially from smaller shippers, and perpetuate a regulatory apparatus that distorts what should be private market pricing decisions. Unseen consequences include reduced competition and entrenched carrier advantages through regulatory capture.

Surface Transportation Board regulation implementing FOIA procedures: establishes public access to specific records (tariffs, reports, docket files), creates reading room availability, sets 20-day FOIA response timelines with appeal process to Chairman, and detailed procedures for notifying submitters of confidential commercial information before disclosure.

This procedural regulation duplicates statutory FOIA requirements already governing all federal agencies. The 20-day response timelines, appeal mechanisms, and confidential commercial information notice procedures are identical to standard FOIA practice across government. Adding agency-specific rules for public access creates unnecessary regulatory complexity without addressing any unique transportation concerns. The regulation's primary effect is bureaucratic redundancy—staff must maintain separate STB-specific procedures rather than following uniform government-wide FOIA standards, increasing compliance costs without enhancing transparency or protecting commercial information beyond what existing law already provides.

This regulation establishes procedures for obtaining NTSB materials in private litigation where the Board is not a party. It distinguishes between publicly available docket files (accessible via Public Inquiries Branch) and other materials requiring General Counsel approval. The rule aims to conserve employee time, maintain agency impartiality, prevent misuse of federal resources for private litigation, and protect confidential information and deliberative processes.

Removing this rule would waste taxpayer resources, enable harassment of NTSB employees through endless discovery, and compromise confidential safety investigation data. The General Counsel review process provides an essential gatekeeping function that balances public access with the agency's core safety mission—a framework impossible to maintain without formal procedures.