The Federal Register

Posted by Anthony Demangone

Regulations are fine and dandy, but the Federal Register often is the bee's knees.  Now, that statement seems to imply that things that are the bee's knees are better than those that are fine and dandy.  I have no idea if that's the case. But I do know that the Federal Register is a huge asset for compliance officers.  This blog post from the past says why.

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I think we've all read a regulation at least once that caused us to scratch our heads.  We may ask why a regulation was put in place.  Or, we may have a situation that is not clearly discussed in the regulation.  Here's a good tip to help you find some extra guidance.

1. Find the regulation that you are researching using GPO's electronic code of federal regulations page.  I use this even for NCUA's regulations.  I'll explain why below.  Find the regulation that you are researching.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the regulation you are researching.  As an example, I've picked NCUA's Insurance/Fidelity Bond Reg.  12 C.F.R. Part 713.5.  Take a look at it here.

3. At the bottom of many sections, you'll see a Federal Register notation.  At the bottom of the reg I selected, you see this: [64 FR 28720, May 27, 1999, as amended at 70 FR 61716, Oct. 26, 2005].  This is a gold mine of information.  This tells you the dates the reg was amended and the actual Federal Register that houses the final rule.  The regs on www.ncua.gov don't have that information.

4. Here's a link to the Federal Register Page.  If you scroll down, you'll see the "browse the table of contents from past issues."  Look back at number 3 above.  The reg in question was amended most recently on October 26, 2005.  So, let's select 2005 from the drop down menu to browse through.  If you did it correctly, you should see this.  From there, you should be able to find the October 26 issue, which is here.

5. Scroll down.  Under "National Credit Union Administration" you'll find the final rule.  Which is here. 

Et voila!  You have the final rule that most recently amended this section.  This can come in handy, as the agency will always explain the purpose of the rule, give background information, etc.  And they will usually tell you the last time that they amended the rule if you want to keep winding yourself back.  I've used this trick quite often. 

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