This week in ridiculous regulations: Paper packaging and de minimis imports

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Presidents Biden issued a slew of executive actions on his way out of office. President Trump issued a slew of executive actions on his way into office. One of them was an attempt to restrict birthright citizenship that a judge quickly blocked. While Tuesday’s Federal Register had 872 pages, Friday’s had just 67 pages. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from migratory bird hunting to unsolved murders.

On to the data: 

• Agencies issued 21 final regulations last week, after 143 the previous week.

• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every eight hours.

• With 249 final regulations so far in 2025, agencies are on pace to issue 4,150 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 30 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 78 the previous week. 

• With 139 proposed regulations so far in 2025, agencies are on pace to issue 2,317 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 294 notices last week, after 522 notices the previous week.

• With 1,567 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 26,117 notices this year. 

• For comparison, there were 25,506 notices in 2024, 22,902 in 2023, and 28,932 in 2022.

• Last week, 1,390 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 4,199 pages the previous week.

• The average Federal Register issue in 2025 contains 545pages.

• With 8,171 pages so far, the 2025 Federal Register is on pace for 136,183 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 replaces the former economically significant tag for $100 million-plus regulations. 

• There are two 3(f)1 regulations so far in 2025, with none in the last week. 

• This is on pace for 33 3(f)(1) regulations in 2025.

• For comparison, there were 20 3(f) 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) significant regulations cost an estimated $870 million.

• 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 $45.28 billion to $78.05 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.

• There was one new final regulation meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after 18 the previous week.

• So far this year, there are 31 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 533significant regulations in 2025.

• For comparison, there were 339 such regulations in 2024, 290 in 2023, and 255 in 2022.

• So far in 2025, 47 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 783. Four of them are significant, on pace for 67.

• 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. In 2022 there were 912 regulations affecting small businesses, 70 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

• Spectrum sharing rules for satellites.

• CFTC rules for making withdrawals.

• Investing in futures.

• Homeland security directives.

• The Education Department is inflation-adjusting its civil penalties.

• So is the CFTC.

• One of the Biden administration’s final acts was to make the Justice Department’s guidance documents less accessible to the public.

• Research and marketing subsidies for paper and paper-based packaging.

• FOIA policies for the Council on Environmental Quality. This was another last-day Biden rule.

• Prevailing wages.

• FCC rules for network disruptions.

• Energy conservation standards for commercial refrigerators, freezers, and refrigerator-freezers.

And from last week’s proposed regulations:

• Non-tariff trade barriers against tariff-free de minimis import shipments.

• Ethylene oxide technology review from the EPA.

• Migratory bird hunting.

• Unsolved murders.

• 90-day review findings for potentially adding seven species and removing one species from the Endangered Species List.

• Endangered species status for the big red sage

• Education Department rules for collecting fiscal data.

• The FTC’s negative option rule.

• Subsistence hunting of migratory birds in Alaska.

• EPA permit regulations for South Carolina.

• Rehabilitation long-term training rules from the Education Department.

• FERC rules for voltage stability in certain equipment.

• Pesticide labeling requirements from the EPA.

• Reimbursing victims of terrorists.

• EPA rules for water tests.

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