Browse regulations

Federal regulations governing bonded warehousing of imported merchandise, including entry procedures, transfer rights, withdrawal for consumption/exportation, and special provisions for distilled spirits and duty-free stores. Establishes procedures for bonded warehouse operations, merchandise handling, duty payments, and transfer of withdrawal rights between parties.

Creates a complex regulatory bureaucracy that distorts free market operations, imposes significant compliance costs on importers, and represents federal overreach into commerce that should be handled through private contract. The extensive rules for warehouse operations, merchandise transfers, and withdrawal procedures add unnecessary layers of government control over legitimate trade activities.

This regulation governs the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) system, a voluntary electronic filing system for customs entries. It sets participation requirements, performance standards, and procedures for brokers, importers, and service bureaus to electronically transmit import data to CBP, with purposes including improved efficiency, lower costs, and expedited cargo release.

Americans would be worse off without ABI as it substantially reduces compliance costs and delays in international trade. The voluntary electronic system lowers administrative burdens for importers, accelerates cargo release, and improves enforcement efficiency compared to paper-based alternatives. Eliminating it would increase hidden taxes on trade, reduce supply chain velocity, and raise costs for all consumers through slower, more expensive import processes.

This part establishes the procedural requirements for entering imported merchandise into the United States, including documentation and electronic submission standards, definitions of entry types, duty liability and payment mechanisms, evidence requirements for right to make entry, bond provisions, and power of attorney rules. It covers most imports except specific exceptions (carnets, transportation in bond, foreign-trade zones, trade fairs).

While imposing significant compliance costs on importers, this regulation implements the constitutionally authorized power to collect tariffs (Art. I, Sec. 8) and prevents smuggling, ensures proper revenue collection, and creates predictable, uniform procedures for international trade. Repealing it would collapse the tariff administration system, causing border chaos and eliminating enforcement of legitimate trade laws. The administrative burden is the necessary price of maintaining an orderly, constitutionally sound system of import regulation; the unseen costs of unregulated borders—lost revenue, unchecked contraband, and trade violations—would far exceed current compliance expenses.

This regulation establishes the administrative framework for administering import quotas by U.S. Customs, including absolute quotas and tariff-rate quotas. It defines procedures for quota allocation, priority determination, documentation requirements, and enforcement. It includes special provisions for specific products (beef, sugar-containing products, wool fabrics) requiring export certificates or licenses, as well as rules for mail importations of quota merchandise.

This regulation enforces protectionist import quotas that harm American consumers through higher prices and reduced choice while benefiting special interests. The complex administrative machinery adds billions in compliance costs, creates barriers to entry for small businesses, and represents federal overreach that violates free market principles. Quotas are a relic of mercantilist thinking that consistently fail to achieve their stated goals while generating massive unseen economic damage through distorted incentives, reduced supply, and regulatory capture.

Regulation governing the transportation (cartage/lighterage) of merchandise under U.S. Customs custody. Requires licensed customhouse cartmen or bonded carriers for government and importer cartage. Establishes bonding requirements, documentation procedures (Customs Forms 6043, 7501, 7512), officer control, liability provisions for loss/damage, and procurement rules for government contracts.

Creates a government-licensed monopoly system that restricts competition and raises barriers to entry. The licensing and bonding requirements protect incumbent cartmen from market competition while compliance costs are passed to importers and ultimately consumers. The same security and accountability objectives could be achieved more efficiently through private bonding, insurance, and contract liability without requiring government licenses and micromanagement. This is classic regulatory capture that benefits established players at the expense of economic liberty and lower costs.

This regulation establishes bonding and licensing requirements for carriers, cartmen, and lightermen who transport merchandise in bond through U.S. ports, including identification card systems and procedures for revocation/suspension of licenses.

This is a classic example of regulatory capture where established transportation companies use government licensing to create artificial barriers to entry, protecting incumbents from competition while imposing costly compliance burdens on small operators. The bonding requirements and licensing fees create unnecessary obstacles to market entry without demonstrable public benefit, and the extensive identification card system for employees represents bureaucratic overreach that serves no legitimate revenue protection purpose in modern commerce.

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission is a regional governmental agency established by interstate compact to comprehensively manage water and related natural resources across parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland through planning, regulation, and coordination with federal, state, and local entities.

This represents an unconstitutional expansion of federal power into water resource management that should be handled by states under the Tenth Amendment. The Commission's regulatory authority over water withdrawals, diversions, and project approvals creates unnecessary bureaucracy that distorts market incentives, raises compliance costs for businesses, and interferes with private property rights. States could coordinate directly without this costly federal intermediary.

This regulation establishes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) program for classifying, downgrading, declassifying, and safeguarding national security information according to Executive Order 11652, creating a bureaucratic framework for handling classified materials within the agency.

This regulation creates unnecessary federal bureaucracy for handling classified information that already has established procedures under Executive Order 11652. The costs of maintaining this separate FERC classification system include compliance burden, potential for conflicting classification standards, and administrative overhead that serves no constitutional purpose since national security classification is properly a federal government function, not an agency-specific one.

This regulation establishes safety standards for household refrigerators, requiring doors to be openable from the inside to prevent child entrapment deaths. It defines technical specifications including force requirements (15 pounds maximum), knob torque (5 inch-pounds), durability testing (300,000 cycles), and protection against food spillage, cleaning, and condensation effects.

Americans would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because child deaths from refrigerator entrapment have been eliminated since these standards were implemented. The regulation addresses a specific, severe safety hazard that market forces alone did not adequately solve before 1958, and the compliance costs are minimal compared to the prevented tragedies.

Child-resistant packaging requirements for household substances under the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970, administered by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to prevent accidental poisoning of children under 5 years old.

This federal regulation represents costly overreach into what should be state and local matters of child safety. The $2+ trillion annual compliance costs create hidden taxes on consumers, while small businesses bear disproportionate burdens. States and localities are better positioned to set appropriate safety standards for their communities, and the free market already provides child-resistant options without federal mandates.

Regulation establishes detailed safety standards for electrically operated toys intended for children, including labeling requirements, construction specifications, electrical component standards, testing procedures, and quality assurance programs under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.

Children would face greater risks of electrocution, burns, and fires without these technical safety standards. The regulation's engineering requirements ensure toys withstand foreseeable damage and prevent electrical hazards—outcomes that tort law cannot provide ex-ante and that private standards may not uniformly cover. The costs are justified by preventing life-threatening injuries in a vulnerable population where market failures are acute due to information asymmetries and inability of children to assess risks.

Defines terms for the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, including 'hazardous substance' categories (toxic, corrosive, irritant, sensitizer, flammable), labeling requirements for household products, and criteria for banning hazardous children's products. Establishes testing standards and interpretation guidance for CPSC enforcement.

Violates Tenth Amendment federalism; imposes substantial compliance costs, especially on small businesses; relies on centralized knowledge impossible for regulators to acquire; creates barriers to innovation and competition; substitutes bureaucratic judgment for consumer choice and market discipline. Unseen costs include reduced product variety, higher prices, and stifled entrepreneurial risk-taking that could yield safer products.

Prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in any program receiving federal financial assistance from the Department of Commerce, requiring recipients to ensure equal access and treatment for all beneficiaries.

Americans would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because it ensures equal access to federally funded programs regardless of race, color, or national origin. Without it, federal funding could be used to create or maintain segregated services, effectively undermining the principle of equal protection under the law and allowing taxpayer money to perpetuate discrimination.

Establishes security areas (Controlled, Limited, Exclusion) at NASA facilities and contractor locations, with graduated access controls based on clearance level and need-to-know. Defines perimeter requirements, signage, authorization procedures, and criminal penalties (up to $5,000 fine/1 year imprisonment) for unauthorized entry. Requires HQ concurrence for permanent areas and provides for removal of violators.

Deletion would leave NASA's critical infrastructure, classified information, and valuable property unprotected from espionage, sabotage, or disruption. The graduated security framework (Controlled/Limited/Exclusion) proportionally allocates protection based on sensitivity, enabling NASA to safeguard its national security assets and mission-critical operations. Contractors would refuse to work with NASA without credible, enforceable security standards. Ad hoc alternatives would fail to provide consistent, nationwide protection for facilities handling sensitive space technology and research.

Establishes procedural framework for FOMC meetings, quorum, voting, and delegations; governs open market operations and monetary policy decisions without public notice or comment.

This regulation institutionalizes harmful monetary central planning, enabling interest rate manipulation that causes boom-bust cycles, capital misallocation, and an inflation tax. The secrecy provisions prevent accountability. The FOMC's power should be abolished to restore market-determined money and interest rates.