About eRegulations

ATF uses the eRegulations platform to make regulations easier to read and navigate.

Regulation data is copied from the Office of the Federal Register website and the GPO FDSYS system and should not be considered authoritative, as those sources are not official legal editions of the Code of Federal Regulations.

eRegulations clarifies regulations by bringing related information and regulatory history to the forefront. It is a work in progress and a public domain work of the United States Government.

Below are details on some eRegulations features and how to use them.

Developers

eRegulations is an open source project. Visit the project repository to learn more and contribute.

Version 1.5.0

Added related documents in search results feature to view links to related documents associated with sections that include related documents

Added diff compare feature to compare diff versions

Added part switcher to the top ribbon to allow easy switching between regulation parts

Easier to read

Clear typography makes regulations legible and easy to scan.

Responsive design adapts the tool to fit to your screen.

Responsive screens icons
eRegulations application screenshot

Regulation timeline

eRegulations timeline effective date eRegulations timeline comparison selector

The regulation timeline shows recent revisions of the regulation organized by latest effective date.

  1. The date picker allows users to find what revision was effective on a specific date.
  2. Federal Register notice(s) associated with a revision are presented and organized by publication date. These links will take you to the notice on the Office of the Federal Register’s website.
  3. Compare any two revisions of the regulation, word for word, by selecting a date in the menu and clicking “Show Differences”.
eRegulations revision comparison screenshot

To stop comparing, return to the regulation timeline tab — — at the top left side of the screen. Click the “Stop Comparing” button under the second of the two revisions being compared.

Compare Diffs

Regulations timeline diff comparison feature

Compared regulation diffs can be viewed side-by-side to help with readability. The newer or current regulation will appear on the left with the older version on the right.

  1. All regulation sections that have changes between versions will have a green edge in the table of contents. If a regulation was completely removed between versions the edge will be red.
  2. Any new text that has been added to a regulation will be displayed with a green highlight.
  3. Click the side by side button in the top banner to compare the regulation versions side by side.
  4. Click the view full document button to return to the original single page view.
  5. Only the newest or current regulation text will appear on the right side. The changes will still be highlighted green. All grayed out text will be removed
  6. The older version of the regulation will appear on the right and text that is no longer applicable will still be grayed out
eRegulations diff comparison showing regulation at different dates Side by side comparison of two diffs from different dates

Printing Regulations

regulations print feature

Printing a regulation is possible by selecting a print option from the landing page or sidebar. Regulations can be printed as an entire part or as an individual section.

  1. To print a specific section, navigate to the desired section and use the print section feature located on the sidebar. You can also print the full version of the current part from the sidebar when viewing any section.
  2. Choosing the print part option from the sidebar will navigate to the full version of the current part. The print section feature will be unavailable until you navigate to a specific section.
  1. You can also print the full version any part from its landing page. Using this option will also take you to the full version of the part.
eRegulations defined terms, linked references, and official interpretation screenshot