Correcting the Federal Register and CFR
Correcting documents before publication
Withdrawing documents from publication
Who is responsible for correcting my document?
Generally, the party making the error has the responsibility to correct it.[1]
OFR corrections to a published document
If the OFR or GPO makes a processing error that changes the text of a document, then we will fix it with an OFR correction.
As soon as possible after publication, proofread the published document against a copy of the document that was sent. If you find a significant printing error, your Liaison Officer must contact us to arrange for a correction of all errors in the document, within 3 months of the publication date.
We will prepare and publish a correction that conforms to your original document. We use a unique correction format to reduce confusion. Do not use this format to prepare corrections that your agency is responsible for.[2]
However, we may decline to publish a correction if the processing error was:
- caused by hidden characters or fields;
- caused by software incompatibility and the errors were approved by your Liaison Officer as part of the review and publication process; or
- because of information or code in document headers or footers.
Once you have determined that your document contains an OFR error or errors that we will correct, your Liaison Officer must send an email to "corrections at nara.gov" containing the following information:
- The date the document published in the Federal Register;
- The FR document number;
- The location of all OFR errors, and, for each error:
- The nature of the error – what you submitted and what we published
- A highlighted or marked PDF of the page indicating the error (optional)
- The correct information as it appeared in your original transmission (optional)
- Any supplementary information necessary to describe the error.
We will not publish a second correction if you fail to include information about an existing error.
Within 10 business days of your request, OFR editors will:
- evaluate the scope and nature of the correction(s),
- determine whether to publish a correction or republish the document, and
- schedule our document.
The actual publication could take up to two additional business days. You will not have the opportunity to review our document before it is filed for public inspection.
Agency corrections to a published document
As soon as possible after publication, proofread the published document against a copy of the document that was sent.
If you find an error in your original document, you must issue a signed document correcting the error. Use the format appropriate for the section of the Federal Register where the original document appeared. Do not use the OFR format to prepare your agency’s corrections.
Corrections to a rule
Non-substantive errors
If you discover obvious misspellings or other non-substantive errors in CFR text as set out in a rule document, your Liaison Officer should contact our CFR unit. We can sometimes make these corrections before we amend the eCFR without requiring a Federal Register correction.[3]
To request correction of a non-substantive error, your Liaison Officer must email the following information to "corrections at nara.gov" – before the effective date of the rule:
- The location of error in the CFR: title, part or subpart, section, and paragraph. If the error is in an appendix, include the part or subpart where the appendix appears and the appendix heading;
- The FR citation to the rule, the effective date of the rule, and the instruction number where the error occurred;
- Any supplementary information necessary to describe the error.
Substantive errors
You must publish a document in the Federal Register to correct substantive errors in your original document (see Chapter 5: How Do I Correct or Withdraw a Document?).
Corrections to the CFR
Agency corrections to the CFR
If, before the CFR was amended, your agency did not catch an error or was not able to publish a correction, use the format for correcting amendments to the CFR (frequently called “technical amendments”[4] or “correcting amendments”) in Example 5‑5. You may also amend the affected provisions in your agency's next final rule affecting that CFR part.
OFR corrections to the CFR
If you discover errors in CFR text that differs from how it published in a rule document, your Liaison Officer should contact our CFR unit as soon as possible. We may be able to correct errors up to 10 years old, if we can establish that we caused the error. Any error more than 10 years old is the responsibility of the issuing agency, regardless of who caused the original error. The 10-year period is calculated from the revision date of the CFR volume where the amendment(s) first appeared incorrectly incorporated into the CFR. For example, an error that first appeared in a volume revised as of April 1, 2009 must be reported to OFR by April 1, 2019.
To request correction of a non-substantive error, your Liaison Officer must email the following information to "corrections at nara.gov":
- The location of error in the CFR: title, part or subpart, section, and paragraph. If the error is in an appendix, include the part or subpart where the appendix appears and the appendix heading;
- The FR citation to the rule and the instruction number where the error occurred, if known;
- Any supplementary information necessary to describe the error.
[1] 1 CFR 18.15(c).
[2] 1 CFR 18.15(b).
[3] 1 CFR 18.15(a).
[4] An ACTION line of “Technical amendments” is not reserved solely for corrections. It can also be used for non-substantive changes (like a change of address or other nomenclature changes).