Regulations.gov / the Federal Register (cross-cutting US public docket system)
- Type
- Government body
- Place
- United States — United States (federal) — operated by GSA's eRulemaking Program on behalf of ~300 agencies
- Last checked
- 2026-09-22
- Next check due
- 2027-03-21
Ways to reach them
- Submit a comment on any federal docket
- Federal Register — where comment windows are announced
- Homepage
What it does
The single statutory channel through which any member of the public can submit a comment on a federal rulemaking, RFI, notice or guidance document, under the Administrative Procedure Act. Agencies must consider and respond to significant comments; failure to do so is grounds for a rule being vacated in court. Comments are published on the docket and are citable.
Its powers
advise
Honest assessment
THIS IS THE REAL US LEVER and it is systematically under-used by safety-focused groups. Unlike a letter to an agency, a docket comment creates a legal record the agency must address, and it is the evidentiary basis for later litigation. Practitioner consensus is: comment early in the window (late comments get less analytical attention), address the agency's specific questions in their order, provide data the agency does not already have, and file separately rather than signing a mass-comment campaign — agencies weigh unique substantive comments and count form letters. The OSTP AI Action Plan RFI drew 10,000+ comments and visibly shaped the output; mass identical submissions in that docket were counted, not read.
Notes
Included as a routing entry rather than a body, because for most US agencies it is the only input channel that legally matters.