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Title 5, Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-102

§608 Procedure for Waiver or Delay of Completion

Title 5 › PART I — THE AGENCIES GENERALLY › CHAPTER 6 — THE ANALYSIS OF REGULATORY FUNCTIONS › § 608

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

A federal agency head may skip or delay some or all of the steps called for under section 603 if, by the time the final rule is published in the Federal Register, the agency posts a written finding saying an emergency makes following those steps impracticable. An agency generally may not waive the steps in section 604 (except as section 605(b) allows), but it can delay them up to 180 days if it publishes a same-day written emergency finding. If the required analysis under section 604 is not done within 180 days, the rule ends and has no effect and cannot be reissued until a final regulatory flexibility analysis is completed.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §608

Government Organization and Employees, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)An agency head may waive or delay the completion of some or all of the requirements of section 603 of this title by publishing in the Federal Register, not later than the date of publication of the final rule, a written finding, with reasons therefor, that the final rule is being promulgated in response to an emergency that makes compliance or timely compliance with the provisions of section 603 of this title impracticable.
(b)Except as provided in section 605(b), an agency head may not waive the requirements of section 604 of this title. An agency head may delay the completion of the requirements of section 604 of this title for a period of not more than one hundred and eighty days after the date of publication in the Federal Register of a final rule by publishing in the Federal Register, not later than such date of publication, a written finding, with reasons therefor, that the final rule is being promulgated in response to an emergency that makes timely compliance with the provisions of section 604 of this title impracticable. If the agency has not prepared a final regulatory analysis pursuant to section 604 of this title within one hundred and eighty days from the date of publication of the final rule, such rule shall lapse and have no effect. Such rule shall not be repromulgated until a final regulatory flexibility analysis has been completed by the agency.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Jan. 1, 1981, see section 4 of Pub. L. 96–354, set out as a note under section 601 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 608

Title 5, Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102