Title 45

SECTION 1173.2

1173.2 Definition of guidance document.

§ 1173.2 Definition of guidance document.

(a) For purposes of this part, the term guidance document means any agency statement of general applicability, intended to have future effect on the behavior of regulated parties, that sets forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue, or an interpretation of a statute or regulation, but does not include the following:

(1) Rules promulgated pursuant to notice and comment under 5 U.S.C. 553 or similar statutory provisions;

(2) Rules exempt from rulemaking requirements under 5 U.S.C. 553(a);

(3) Rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice;

(4) Decisions of agency adjudications under 5 U.S.C. 554 or similar statutory provisions;

(5) Internal guidance directed to the issuing agency or other agencies that is not intended to have substantial future effect on the behavior of regulated parties;

(6) Internal executive branch legal advice or legal opinions addressed to executive branch officials;

(7) Agency statements of specific applicability, including advisory or legal opinions directed to particular parties about circumstance-specific questions (e.g., case or investigatory letters responding to complaints, warning letters), notices regarding particular locations or facilities (e.g., guidance pertaining to the use, operation, or control of a government facility or property), and correspondence with individual persons or entities (e.g., congressional correspondence), except documents ostensibly directed to a particular party but designed to guide the conduct of the broader regulated public;

(8) Legal briefs, other court filings, or positions taken in litigation or enforcement actions;

(9) Agency statements that do not set forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue or an interpretation of a statute or regulation, including speeches and individual presentations, editorials, media interviews, press materials, or congressional testimony that do not set forth for the first time a new regulatory policy;

(10) Guidance pertaining to military or foreign affairs functions;

(11) Grant solicitations and awards;

(12) Contract solicitations and awards; or

(13) Purely internal agency policies or guidance directed solely to NEH staff or other federal agencies that are not intended to have substantial future effect on the behavior of regulated parties.

(b) [Reserved]

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