Browse regulations

This regulation sets minimum safety requirements for uninspected commercial vessels, motor vessels, sail-powered passenger vessels, and passenger barges. It applies to both U.S. and foreign vessels operating in U.S. waters, with exemptions for inland-only vessels, laid-up vessels, and certain U.S.-government vessels. It defines key terms (e.g., passenger, motor vessel, consideration), establishes appeal rights, allows for alternative equipment if equally effective, and recognizes Canadian regulations for temporary Canadian pleasure craft in U.S. waters.

Deleting these baseline maritime safety standards would endanger passengers, crew, and the public. Vessel passengers cannot reasonably assess safety equipment and construction standards; accidents impose externalities on rescue services, environment, and other waterway users. The regulation's narrow scope (passenger-carrying vessels), flexibility (alternative approvals), and appeal process minimize costs while addressing legitimate market failures from information asymmetry and risk externalization.

Marine vessel inspection and certification regulations covering application procedures, certificate issuance, foreign vessel compliance, inspection fees, and operational requirements for vessels engaged in U.S. waters and international voyages.

This regulatory framework creates a massive compliance burden that stifles maritime commerce and innovation. The extensive paperwork, inspection fees, and bureaucratic procedures add significant costs without proportional safety benefits. Small vessel operators and startups face particularly high compliance costs that effectively exclude them from the market. The regulations also create regulatory capture opportunities where established shipping companies benefit from complex rules that deter new entrants. Most inspection requirements could be handled through private certification, insurance requirements, and market-driven safety standards without government intervention.

This Cold War-era regulation prohibits transporting controlled commodities (arms, nuclear materials, and items on the Commodity Control List) on US-registered ships or aircraft to destinations in country groups X, Y, or Z without a validated license or authorization. It applies to vessel/aircraft owners, operators, and agents, requiring reports, 2-year record retention, and imposing criminal penalties for willful violations.

This obsolete regulation imposes heavy compliance costs on transporters and shippers, creates bureaucratic hurdles that favor large corporations over small businesses, and distorts private commerce through licensing requirements. Its unseen effects include reduced trade, stifled innovation from uncertain licensing, and a chilling effect on voluntary exchange that impoverishes all parties. The regulation represents federal overreach into private commerce and has been superseded by modern export control frameworks.

FEMA regulation implementing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Age Discrimination Act, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, national origin, or age in any program receiving federal financial assistance. It defines covered entities, bans discriminatory practices (including disparate impact), requires recipient assurances, imposes reporting and recordkeeping obligations, establishes complaint/investigation procedures, and provides for enforcement through funding termination or judicial referral.

Americans would be worse off because discrimination in disaster relief would increase, harming minorities during life-threatening emergencies. This regulation achieves its goals through a necessary enforcement mechanism—tying compliance to federal funding—that would be difficult to replicate via private litigation alone, ensuring systematic oversight consistent with congressional intent at reasonable cost.

This regulation establishes definitions and procedural requirements for trademark applications and proceedings before the USPTO, including terms for entities, use in commerce, electronic filing systems, and representation requirements for foreign applicants.

Americans would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because it provides essential clarity and consistency for the trademark registration process, preventing confusion and disputes over intellectual property rights that could harm businesses and consumers.

This regulation implements safety and health standards for service contracts under the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act, requiring contractors to comply with 41 CFR part 50-204 and 29 CFR part 1904, and treating non-compliance as creating hazardous working conditions.

It adds redundant compliance costs and bureaucratic enforcement that duplicate OSHA and state regulations, disproportionately harms small businesses, and federalizes labor standards better handled by states or private contracts, increasing taxpayer costs and reducing competition without clear marginal safety benefits.

Mandates that workshops and rehabilitation facilities receiving federal grants under the 1965 Vocational Rehabilitation Act comply with 41 CFR part 50-204 occupational safety standards.

Imposes compliance costs that divert resources from rehabilitation services for disabled individuals. Creates barriers to entry for small facilities. Safety should be determined by states, liability law, and market forces—not federal bureaucracy. Violates federalism by extending federal control into local rehabilitation services.

This regulation implements section 13(b)(11) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, creating an exemption from overtime pay requirements for delivery drivers and helpers compensated on trip-rate or delivery payment plans, but only if the Secretary finds the plan reduces their hours to or below the maximum workweek. It establishes a petition process, requires detailed documentation of work patterns, and sets standards for finding such exemptions based on historical data showing reduced hours.

This regulation creates a complex bureaucratic exemption process that distorts labor markets by rewarding employers who structure compensation to artificially reduce hours rather than improve productivity. The administrative burden falls disproportionately on small businesses, while the 'finding' requirement gives bureaucrats arbitrary power to grant or deny exemptions. The unseen cost is that it encourages gaming the system rather than creating genuine value, and it undermines the principle that labor should be compensated fairly for actual work performed.

This regulation implements the registration requirement under the Gambling Devices Act of 1962, requiring manufacturers, distributors, and others involved with gambling devices to register annually with the Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division by letter. It specifies no special forms, requires registered/certified mail, and references seizure/forfeiture provisions.

The registration requirement imposes compliance costs and creates a federal barrier to entry in the gambling device industry, protecting incumbents from competition. Under Tenth Amendment principles, regulation of gambling is primarily a state police power. The federal interest in tracking devices in interstate commerce can be addressed through less restrictive means, such as requiring carriers to document contents or targeted enforcement, without a universal registration mandate that expands bureaucratic power and burdens lawful businesses.

The Merchant Marine Act's construction reserve fund provisions allow U.S. shipping companies to defer capital gains taxes when reinvesting proceeds from vessel sales into new vessel construction, creating tax-advantaged savings accounts for maritime industry investment.

This is corporate welfare that distorts capital allocation, creates market inefficiencies, and provides special tax treatment unavailable to other industries. It artificially props up an uncompetitive shipping sector, reduces tax revenue, and represents regulatory capture by the maritime industry.

Procedural rules governing the International Joint Commission (IJC), a binational US-Canada body established by 1909 treaty to resolve boundary water disputes. Defines terms, organizational structure, meeting procedures, application processes for water use approvals, hearing procedures, and public access to records.

This implements a legitimate treaty between sovereign nations to manage shared boundary waters—a proper federal foreign affairs function. The rules merely establish fair procedures for the IJC's operations and create no compliance costs for American citizens or businesses. Deleting it would jeopardize a century-old diplomatic framework that prevents conflicts over shared water resources, which is a core federal responsibility under the Treaty Clause.

Implements Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for USAID-funded programs within the United States, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, or national origin with comprehensive compliance, reporting, investigation, hearing, and enforcement mechanisms including funding termination.

Creates disproportionate compliance burden on small recipients; extends federal regulatory power into traditional state/local domains (education, housing, social services); complex administrative apparatus diverts resources from program objectives; 'disparate impact' provisions penalize neutral practices and may force racial balancing; may discourage organizations from seeking beneficial federal assistance; represents federal overreach through conditional spending that distorts local decision-making and increases regulatory costs without clear marginal benefit over existing civil rights enforcement.

Federal regulation implementing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally funded programs, with detailed compliance procedures, enforcement mechanisms, and administrative review processes.

This regulation protects fundamental civil rights by ensuring equal access to federally funded programs. Without it, racial discrimination in government services would return, harming millions of Americans who depend on public education, healthcare, and other essential services. The compliance mechanisms are necessary to enforce these constitutional protections.

Implements Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for Tennessee Valley Authority financial assistance programs, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. Establishes extensive compliance mechanisms including pre-award reviews, post-award audits, complaint investigations, reporting requirements, and enforcement actions such as termination of funding. Covers states, localities, private entities, educational institutions, and others receiving TVA assistance.

Deletion would permit government-funded discrimination, violating the principle that taxpayer money should not support exclusion or unequal treatment based on immutable characteristics. Americans would be worse off because recipients of federal assistance could openly discriminate, undermining equal protection and creating second-class citizenship in programs meant to serve the public. The regulation achieves its outcome through proactive oversight, systematic compliance reviews, and enforceable consequences—mechanisms that would be far harder to replicate through private litigation alone, which is reactive, costly for individuals, and often ineffective against powerful institutions. Without this administrative framework, civil rights protections in TVA-funded programs would be hollow.

Prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in NASA-funded programs, requiring recipients to ensure equal access and prohibiting discriminatory practices in services, benefits, and employment.

Creates massive bureaucratic compliance burden costing billions in administrative overhead while producing minimal measurable benefits. Small organizations disproportionately harmed by compliance costs. Government overreach into private sector operations. Original civil rights goals already achieved through other means.