The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Mackerel and helicopters

The continuing shutdown made for another slow week in the Federal Register. The four-day week’s total of five proposed regulations, six proposed regulations, and 131 pages is smaller than an average day’s edition. The Trump administration proposed price controls on a wide range of unspecified goods in response to Chinese restrictions on rare earth minerals. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from patent denials to controlled substances.

 On to the data:

• Agencies issued six final regulations last week, after five the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every twenty-eight hours.
• With 2,034 final regulations so far in 2025, agencies are on pace to issue 2,555 final regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 3,248 final regulations in 2024, 3,018 in 2023, and 3,168 in 2022.
• Agencies issued five proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after zero the previous week.
• With 1,238 proposed regulations so far in 2025, agencies are on pace to issue 1,555 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 1,769 proposed regulations in 2024, 2,102 proposed regulations in 2023, and 2,044 in 2022.
• Agencies published 30 notices last week, after 26 notices the previous week.
• With 15,617 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 19,054 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 25,506 notices in 2024, 22,902 in 2023, and 28,973 in 2022.
• Last week, 219 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 122 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2025 contains 243 pages.
• With 48,372 pages so far, the 2025 Federal Register is on pace for 60,769 pages.
• For comparison, the 2024 Federal Register has an all-time record 107,261 pages. The 2023 edition has 90,402 pages, and the 2022 Federal Register has 80,756 pages.
• Rules with $200 million or more of economic effects in at least one year qualify as major under Section 3(f)(1). This replaced the former economically significant tag for $100 million-plus regulations.
• However, the $100 million economically significant tag is now revived under a Trump Executive Order, and the $200 million 3(f)(1) tag is going away. Rules from both categories have appeared this year.
• There are eight 3(f)(1) or economically significant regulations so far in 2025, with none in the last week.
• This is on pace for 10 3(f)(1) or economically significant regulations in 2025.
• For comparison, there were 20 3(f)(1) significant regulations in 2024, 28 3(f)(1) and/or economically significant regulations in 2023, and 43 economically significant rules in 2022. Note that these are not apples-to-apples comparisons, since 3(f)(1) and economically significant rules have different thresholds.
• This year’s section 3(f)(1) and economically significant regulations have estimated costs ranging from net savings of $702 million to $21.90 billion.
• For context, the cost tally for 2024’s 3(f)(1) significant regulations is net savings of $16.42 billion to $26.45 billion. 2023’s 3(f)(1) and/or economically significant regulations estimated costs range from $62.60 billion to $90.48 billion. Cost estimates for 2022’s economically significant rules range from $45.28 billion to $78.05 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There were no new final regulations last week meeting the broader definition of “significant,” after none the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 109 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 137 significant regulations in 2025.
• For comparison, there were 339 such regulations in 2024, 290 in 2023, and 255 in 2022.
• So far in 2025, 513 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 644. Twenty-one of them are significant, on pace for 26. Earlier transparency problems at FederalRegister.gov affecting this and other statistics have been fixed as of October 3, 2025. Our thanks to the people responsible.
• For comparison, in 2024 there were 770 regulations affecting small businesses, 76 of them significant. In 2023 there were 789 regulations affecting small businesses, 79 of them significant.

All of last week’s new final regulations:

• Atka mackerel.
• Seven new Schedule I controlled substances.
• Airbus helicopter airworthiness.
• Airbus airplane airworthiness.
• Continental Aerospace engines.
• Cambodian money laundering.
  

And all of last week’s proposed regulations:

• Periodic postal reporting.
• Forced voluntary production agreements under the Defense Production Act.
• Roth in-plan conversions.
• Rules of practice before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
• Discretionary patent denials.

For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter. See also CEI’s Agenda for Congress.