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SEC. 5. That there is hereby created also a National Historical Publications Commission which shall make plans, estimates, and recommendations for such historical works and collections of sources as seem appropriate for publication and/or otherwise recording at the public expense, said Commission to consist of the Archivist of the United States, who shall be its chairman; the historical adviser of the Department of State; the chief of the historical section of the War Department, General Staff; the superintendent of naval records in the Navy Department; the Chief of the Division of Manuscripts in the Library of Congress; and two members of the American Historical Association appointed by the president thereof from among those persons who are or have been members of the executive council of the said association: Provided, That the preparation and publication of annual and special reports on the archives and records of the Government, guides, inventory lists, catalogs, and other instruments facilitating the use of the collections shall have precedence over detailed calendars and textual reproductions. This Commission shall meet at least once a year, and the members shall serve without compensation, except repayment of expenses actually incurred in attending meetings of the Commission. SEC. 6. That there is hereby further created a National Archives Council composed of the Secretaries of each of the executive departments of the Government (or an alternate from each department to be named by the Secretary thereof), the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Library, the Chairman of the House Committee on the Library, the Librarian of Congress, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and the Archivist of the United States. The said Council shall define the classes of material which shall be transferred to the National Archives Building and establish regulations governing such transfer; and shall have power to advise the Archivist in respect to regulations governing the disposition and use of the archives and records transferred to his custody.

SEC. 7. The National Archives may also accept, store, and preserve motion-picture films and sound recordings pertaining to and illustrative of historical activities of the United States, and in connection therewith maintain a projecting room for showing such films and reproducing such sound recordings for historical purposes and study. SEC. 8. The National Archives shall have an official seal, which shall be judicially noticed.

The Archivist of the United States may make or reproduce and furnish authenticated or unauthenticated copies of any of the documentary, photographic or other archives or records in his custody that are not exempt from examination as confidential or protected by subsisting copyright, and may charge therefor a fee sufficient to cover the cost or expenses thereof. There shall be no charge for the making or authentication of such copies or reproductions furnished to any department or other agency of the Government for official use. When any such copy or reproduction furnished under the terms hereof is authenticated by the official seal of The National Archives and certified by the Archivist of the United States, or in his name attested by the head of any office or the chief of any division of The National Archives designated by the Archivist with such authority,

it shall be admitted in evidence equally with the original from which it was made.'

SEC. 9. That the Archivist shall make to Congress, at the beginning of each regular session, a report for the preceding fiscal year as to the National Archives, the said report including a detailed statement of all accessions and of all receipts and expenditures on account of the said establishment. He shall also transmit to Congress the recommendations of the Commission on National Historical Publications, and, on January 1 of each year, with the approval of the Council, a list or description of the papers, documents, and so forth (among the archives and records of the Government), which appear to have no permanent value or historical interest, and which, with the concurrence of the Government agency concerned, and subject to the approval of Congress, shall be destroyed or otherwise effectively disposed of.

SEC. 10. That there are hereby authorized such appropriations as may be necessary for the maintenance of the National Archives Building and the administration of the collections, the expenses, and work of the Commission on National Historical Publications, the supply of necessary equipment and expenses incidental to the operations aforesaid, including transfer of records to the Archives Building; printing and binding; personal services in the District of Columbia and elsewhere; travel and subsistence and per diem in lieu of subsistence, notwithstanding the provisions of any other Acts; stenographic services by contract or otherwise as may be deemed necessary; purchases and exchange of books and maps; purchase, exchange, and operation of motor vehicles; and all absolutely necessary contingent expenses, all to be expended under the direction of the Archivist, who shall annually submit to Congress estimates therefor in the manner prescribed by law.

SEC. 11. All Acts or parts of Acts relating to the charge and superintendency, custody, preservation, and disposition of official papers and documents of executive departments and other governmental agencies inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Approved, June 19, 1934.

THE FEDERAL REGISTER ACT, APPROVED JULY 26, 1935

[49 Stat. 500-503]

An Act to provide for the custody of Federal proclamations, orders, regulations, notices, and other documents, and for the prompt and uniform printing and distribution thereof.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Archivist of the United States, acting through a division established by him in the National Archives Establishment, hereinafter referred to as the "Division", is charged with the custody and, together with the Public Printer, with the prompt and uniform printing and distribution of the documents required or authorized to be published under section 5. There shall be at the head of the Division a director, appointed by the President, who shall act under the general direction of

1 As amended June 22, 1936 (49 Stat. 1821-1822).

the Archivist of the United States in carrying out the provisions of this Act and the regulations prescribed hereunder, who shall receive a salary, to be fixed by the President, not to exceed $5,000 a year.

SEC. 2. The original and two duplicate originals or certified copies of any document required or authorized to be published under section 5 shall be filed with the Division, which shall be open for that purpose during all hours of the working days when the Archives Building shall be open for official business. The Director of the Division shall cause to be noted on the original and duplicate originals or certified copies of each document the day and hour of filing thereof: Provided, That when the original is issued, prescribed, or promulgated outside of the District of Columbia and certified copies are filed before the filing of the original, the notation shall be of the day and hour of filing of the certified copies. Upon such filing, at least one copy shall be immediately available for public inspection in the office of the Director of the Division. The original shall be retained in the archives of the National Archives Establishment and shall be available for inspection under regulations to be prescribed by the Archivist. The Division shall transmit immediately to the Government Printing Office for printing, as provided in this Act, one duplicate original or certified copy of each document required or authorized to be published under section 5. Every Federal agency shall cause to be transmitted for filing as herein required the original and the duplicate originals or certified copies of all such documents issued, prescribed, or promulgated by the agency.

SEC. 3. All documents required or authorized to be published under section 5 shall be printed and distributed forthwith by the Government Printing Office in a serial publication designated the "Federal Register." It shall be the duty of the Public Printer to make available the facilities of the Government Printing Office for the prompt. printing and distribution of the Federal Register in the manner and at the times required in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the regulations prescribed hereunder. The contents of the daily issues shall be indexed and shall comprise all documents, required or authorized to be published, filed with the Division up to such time of the day immediately preceding the day of distribution as shall be fixed by regulations hereunder. There shall be printed with each document a copy of the notation, required to be made under section 2, of the day and hour when, upon filing with the Division, such document was made available for public inspection. Distribu-tion shall be made by delivery or by deposit at a post office at such time in the morning of the day of distribution as shall be fixed by such regulations prescribed hereunder. The prices to be charged for the Federal Register may be fixed by the administrative committee established by section 6 without reference to the restrictions placed upon and fixed for the sale of Government publications by section 1 of the Act of May 11, 1922, and section 307 of the Act of June 30, 1932 (U. S. C., title 44, secs. 72 and 72a), and any amendments thereto.

SEC. 4. As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the term "document" means any Presidential proclamation or Executive order and any order, regulation, rule, certificate, code of fair competition, license, notice, or similar instrument issued, prescribed,. or promulgated by a Federal agency; the terms "Federal agency" or

"agency" mean the President of the United States, or any executive department, independent board, establishment, bureau, agency, institution, commission, or separate office of the administrative branch of the Government of the United States but not the legislative or judicial branches of the Government; and the term "person" means any individual, partnership, association, or corporation.

SEC. 5. (a) There shall be published in the Federal Register (1) all Presidential proclamations and Executive orders, except such as have no general applicability and legal effect or are effective only against Federal agencies or persons in their capacity as officers, agents, or employees thereof; (2) such documents or classes of documents as the President shall determine from time to time have general applicability and legal effect; and (3) such documents or classes of documents as may be required so to be published by Act of the Congress: Provided, That for the purposes of this Act every document or order which shall prescribe a penalty shall be deemed to have general applicability and legal effect.

(b) In addition to the foregoing there shall also be published in the Federal Register such other documents or classes of documents. as may be authorized to be published pursuant hereto by regulations prescribed hereunder with the approval of the President, but in no case shall comments or news items of any character whatsoever be authorized to be published in the Federal Register.

SEC. 6. There is established a permanent Administrative Committee of three members consisting of the Archivist or Acting Archivist, who shall be chairman, an officer of the Department of Justice designated by the Attorney General, and the Public Printer or Acting Public Printer. The Director of the Division shall act as secretary of the committee. The committee shall prescribe, with the approval of the President, regulations for carrying out the provisions of this Act. Such regulations shall provide, among other things: (a) The manner of certification of copies required to be certified under section 2, which certification may be permitted to be based upon confirmed communications from outside of the District of Columbia; (b) the documents which shall be authorized pursuant to section 5 (b) to be published in the Federal Register; (c) the manner and form in which the Federal Register shall be printed, reprinted, compiled, indexed, bound, and distributed; (d) the number of copies of the Federal Register which shall be printed, reprinted, and compiled, the number which shall be distributed without charge to Members of Congress, officers and employees of the United States, or any Federal agency for their official use, and the number which shall be available for distribution to the public; and (e) the prices to be charged for individual copies of, and subscriptions to, the Federal Register and reprints and bound volumes thereof.

SEC. 7. No document required under section 5 (a) to be published in the Federal Register shall be valid as against any person who has not had actual knowledge thereof until the duplicate originals or certified copies of the document shall have been filed with the Division and a copy made available for public inspection as provided in section 2; and, unless otherwise specifically provided by statute, such filing of any document, required or authorized to be published under section 5, shall, except in cases where notice by publication is insufficient in law, be sufficient to give notice of the contents of such

document to any person subject thereto or affected thereby. The publication in the Federal Register of any document shall create a rebuttable presumption (a) that it was duly issued, prescribed, or promulgated; (b) that it was duly filed with the Division and made available for public inspection at the day and hour stated in the printed notation; (c) that the copy contained in the Federal Register is a true copy of the original; and, (d) that all requirements of this Act and the regulations prescribed hereunder relative to such document have been complied with. The contents of the Federal Register shall be judicially noticed and, without prejudice to any other mode of citation, may be cited by volume and page number.

SEC. 8. Whenever notice of hearing or of opportunity to be heard is required or authorized to be given by or under an Act of the Congress, or may otherwise properly be given, the notice shall be deemed to have been duly given to all persons residing within the continental United States (not including Alaska), except in cases where notice by publication is insufficient in law, if said notice shall be published in the Federal Register at such time that the period between the publication and the date fixed in such notice for the hearing or for the termination of the opportunity to be heard shall be (a) not less than the time specifically prescribed for the publication of the notice by the appropriate Act of the Congress; or (b) not less than fifteen days when no time for publication is specifically prescribed by the Act, without prejudice, however, to the effectiveness of any notice of less than fifteen days where such shorter period is reasonable.

SEC. 9. Every payment made for the Federal Register shall be covered into the Treasury as a miscellaneous receipt. The cost of printing, reprinting, wrapping, binding, and distributing the Federal Register and any other expenses incurred by the Government Printing Office in carrying out the duties placed upon it by this Act shall be borne by the appropriations to the Government Printing Office and such appropriations are hereby made available, and are authorized to be increased by such additional sums as are necessary for such purposes, such increases to be based upon estimates submitted by the Public Printer. The purposes for which appropriations are available and are authorized to be made under section 10 of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a National Archives of the United States Government, and for other purposes" (48 Stat. 1122) are enlarged to cover the additional duties placed upon the National Archives Establishment by the provisions of this Act. Copies of the Federal Register mailed by the Government shall be entitled to the free use of the United States mails in the same manner as the official mail of the executive departments of the Government. The cost of mailing the Federal Register to officers and employees of Federal agencies in foreign countries shall be borne by the respective agencies.

SEC. 10. The provisions of section 2 shall become effective sixty days after the date of approval of this Act and the publication of the Federal Register shall begin within three business days thereafter: Provided, That the appropriations involved have been increased as required by section 9 of this Act. The limitations upon the effectiveness of documents required, under section 5 (a), to be published in the Federal Register shall not be operative as to any document issued,

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