Federal Register docket number structure

Context

See implementation at Federal Register link grouping.

We needed to figure out how to automatically (or semi-automatically) group together Federal Register rules, like this:

RIN numbers (example) seem to be the official way to do this, but docket numbers get pretty close, and it can be hard to find RIN numbers for old rules. So here's what we learned about docket numbers.

Examples

Examples of docket numbers: CMS-2244-P (XML), CMS-6150-F (XML), CMS-2482-CN (XML).

A few documents have two docket numbers, such as "CMS-2232-F3; CMS-2244-F4" (XML).

Medicaid rules also include a few documents with a HHS docket number, such as HHS-OS-2020-0015 (XML).

Suffixes

These are docket number suffixes seen in a sample of Federal Register documents associated with Title 42 Part 447, listed with the action statements from the associated documents. We couldn't find public documentation, so here are our notes in case they're helpful.

• CN
  • Correction of final rule with comment period.
  • Correction of proposed rule.
  • Final rule; correction.
  • Proposed rule; correction.
• IFC
  • Interim final rule with comment period.
  • Interim final rule with comment; Further delay of effective date.
• F
  • Final rule.
• F2
  • Final rule.
  • Final rule; delay of effective date.
  • Final rule; delay of effective date and reopening of comment period.
  • Final rule; correcting amendment.
  • Final rule; correction and correcting amendment.
• F3
  • Final rule; delay of effective date and reopening of comment period.
  • Final rule; Further delay of effective date.
• F4
  • Withdrawal of final rule with comment period.
• FC
  • Final rule with comment period.
• N
  • Delay of effective date of a final rule.
  • Proposed rule; reopening of comment period.
• NC
  • Request for information.
• P
  • Proposed rule.
• P2
  • Proposed rule.
• WN
  • Withdrawal of proposed rule.