The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (5 U.S.C. § 551 et seq) sets forth the procedures, definitions and limitations that govern agency actions. The APA covers four main areas of administrative law:
Administrative laws or actions can be categorized as either rulemaking or adjudication. These rules are created to enforce, interpret or prescribe law or policy.
Before a proposed agency rule goes into effect the agency must give the public notice (5 U.S.C. § 553(b)). Giving public notice is accomplished by publishing the proposed rule in the Federal Register. The public is given an opportunity to review proposed rule and submit comments before the rule takes effect (5 U.S.C. § 553(c)).
The agency reviews the submitted comments and may take them into consideration before the final rule is published and takes effect. The process is referred to as notice & comment rulemaking or informal rulemaking. See map of informal rulemaking process below.
Proposed regulations and comment submissions can be found here.
