Regulations

EPA is called a regulatory agency because Congress authorizes us to write regulations that explain the technical, operational, and legal details necessary to implement laws. Regulations are mandatory requirements that can apply to individuals, businesses, state or local governments, non-profit institutions, or others. We provide a number of tools for you to keep track of and participate in the development of new EPA regulations, and to learn how to comply with existing regulations.

Read more basic information about laws and regulations .

• Track EPA Rulemakings
• Find Regulations
• Learn about Retrospective Reviews
• Get Regulatory Info About Your State

Track EPA Rulemakings

EPA rulemakings (i.e., regulations that are under development) could impact you once they become final regulations. But, you have an opportunity to provide input on almost every regulation before it is finalized. To help you get involved in our rulemakings, we provide a number of ways you can keep track of them.

• Rulemaking Gateway - Access monthly updates on the progress of EPA's priority rulemakings, available from the moment we start working on a rulemaking.
• Actions Initiated by Month - Read about the rulemakings and other regulatory actions we initiate each month, including some that appear in the Rulemaking Gateway as priority rulemakings and some that don't.
• Regulatory Agendas and Regulatory Plans - Download twice yearly publications of EPA's regulatory activities.
• Regulations.gov - This multi-agency website serves as an online clearinghouse for materials related to EPA rulemakings and is EPA's official on-line comment system. Comment on regulations, and access rules that have been published in the Federal Register and related documents.
• EPA Docket Centers - EPA docket centers provide access to the same information as Regulations.gov for those people without access to the Internet. In addition, the docket centers provide access to those pieces of information that we are unable to provide electronically. You may also submit comments to the docket centers, in addition to submitting them via Regulations.gov.

Find external resources for laws and regulations.

Find Regulations

Regulations are codified in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Title 40: Protection of Environment is the section of the CFR that deals with EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment.

• The CFR is available from FDSys, from the U.S. Government Printing Office.

The Federal Register (FR) is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. There's a difference between the CFR and the FR. The FR announces ongoing activities of the agencies and notifies you when you can comment on a proposed regulation. Once a final decision is issued in the form of a final regulation, the regulation is then codified when it is incorporated into the CFR.

• The FR is available from FDSys, from the U.S. Government Printing Office.

You may also:

• Find more detailed regulatory information by topic or by sector.
• Access summary statistics on the volume and types of regulations by year at RegStat.

Learn about Retrospective Reviews

EPA conducts retrospective reviews of its existing regulations to effectively and efficiently meet the Agency's mission of protecting human health and safeguard the environment.  Some reviews are required by statute.  For example, section 109 of the Clean Air Act requires reviews of National Ambient Air Quality Standards every five years.  EPA conducts other retrospective reviews at its discretion.  Currently, EPA is developing a preliminary plan for retrospective reviews of existing regulations, as required by Executive Order 13563, which was issued by President Obama on January 18, 2011.  Learn more about EPA's preliminary plan...

Get Regulatory Info About Your State

EPA has ten Regional offices, each of which is responsible for several states and territories. Get information about your Region or your state's environmental agencies.

In many cases, state-level environmental agencies administer the federal regulations that EPA puts in place. The Gateway to State-by-State Resource Locators , sponsored by EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance, provides access to state-by-state environmental regulations, compliance assistance, and where applicable, permits and forms for a variety of topics.