The week in regulations: Cyber sanctions and tinnitus relief devices

Inflation is now more than double the Federal Reserve’s target. The Iran war heated up again. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from vending stands to taconite.

 On to the data:

• Agencies issued 82 new final regulations last week.
• This is equivalent to one new final regulation every two hours and 3 minutes.
• Agencies have issued 1,278 final regulations so far in 2026.
• At this pace, agencies will issue 2,827 final regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,441 final regulations in 2025, 3,248 in 2024, and 3,018 in 2023.
• Agencies issued 24 new proposed regulations last week.
• With 809 proposed regulations so far in 2026, agencies are on pace to issue 1,790 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 1,498 proposed regulations in 2025, 1,769 in 2024, and 2,102 in 2023.
• Agencies issued 385 notices last week.
• With 9,480 notices so far in 2026, agencies are on pace to issue 20,973 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 19,820 notices in 2025, 25,506 in 2024, and 22,902 in 2023.
• There were 1,789 new Federal Register pages last week.
• With 35,871 pages so far, the 2026 Federal Register is on pace to reach 79,361 pages.
• For comparison, the 2025 Federal Register had 61,461 pages, and 2024 had an all-time record 107,261 pages. The 2023 edition had 90,402 pages.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2026 contains 317 pages.
• Rules with annual economic effects of $100 million or more in at least one year qualify as economically significant.
• During the Biden administration, this category was temporarily scrapped and replaced with a $200 million annual threshold for being called significant under Section 3(f)(1) of Executive Order 12866 as amended.
• A 2025 Trump executive order scrapped the $200 million 3(f)(1) threshold and revived the $100 million economically significant category. Because of the length of time the rulemaking process takes, rules under both thresholds are still appearing.
• So far in 2026, there are 15 new regulations that are either 3(f)(1) or economically significant. One such regulation appeared in the previous week.
• This pace will yield 33 new regulations in 2026 that are either 3(f)(1) or economically significant.
• For comparison, there were 17 new regulations in 2025 that were either 3(f)(1) or economically significant, 20 in 2024, and 28 in 2023. Note that these are not apples-to-apples comparisons, since 3(f)(1) and economically significant rules have different thresholds.
• Regulations that are new in 2026 and are either 3(f)(1) or economically significant are estimated to produce net annual savings between $132 billion and $907 billion.
• For context, 3(f)(1) or economically significant regulations in 2025 had estimated net annual costs of $219 million to $1.64 billion. The figures for 2024 are net annual savings of $16.42 billion to $26.45 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There were three final regulations last week meeting the broader definition of “significant.”
• So far this year, 97 new final regulations meet the broader definition of “significant.” This pace will yield 215 significant final regulations in 2026.
• For comparison, there were 155 such regulations in 2025, 339 in 2024, and 290 in 2023.
• So far in 2026, 289 new regulations affect small businesses, making a yearly pace of 639. Thirteen of them are significant, making a yearly pace of 29.
• For comparison, in 2025 there were 597 regulations affecting small businesses, 30 of them significant. In 2024 there were 770 regulations affecting small businesses, 76 of them significant. In 2023 there were 789 regulations affecting small businesses, 106 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

• The EPA issued partial withdrawals of findings of failure to submit State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions to amend provisions applying to excess emissions during periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction.
• HUD is revising its noise abatement and control regulations.
• The Economic Development Administration is removing some unused trade adjustment assistance regulations.
• Labor organization annual financial reports.
• The Transportation Department is rescinding some Civil Rights Act-related regulations.
• Vending stands.
• North Korea sanctions.
• Venezuela sanctions.
• More Venezuela sanctions.
• Iran sanctions.
• International Criminal Court-related sanctions.
• Cyber-related sanctions.
• Device classification for SARS-CoV-2 detectors.
• Removing the northeastern bulrush from the Endangered Species List.
• Tinnitus relief devices.
• The Social Security Administration is inflation-adjusting its civil monetary penalties.
• DEA regulations for opioid addiction recovery.
• Embassy and consulate visa fees.
• Defense Department funding for entertainment productions.
• Taconite implementation.
• CFTC settlements.

And from last week’s proposed regulations:

• The definition of “manufactured home.”
• Circumventing access controls on copyrighted works.
• Modified organisms subject to the Plant Protection Act.
• Anchorages in New York.
• Threatened species status for the southern hognose snake.
• Coal combustion residuals.
• PM2.5 fine particulate matter in California.

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