(a) This part prescribes general procedures that apply to guidance documents NARA and its components issue after April 30, 2020, and to all NARA employees and contractors involved in all phases of developing and issuing policy and guidance.

(b) This part does not apply to:

(1) Regulations; although some regulations are subject to rulemaking requirements under 5 U.S.C. 553(a), they do not constitute guidance, so are not covered by this rule. In addition, this rule does not apply to regulations exempt from rulemaking requirements under 5 U.S.C. 553(a) and regulations of agency organization, procedure, or practice;

(2) Decisions of agency adjudications under 5 U.S.C. 554 or similar statutory provisions;

(3) Internal executive branch legal advice or legal advisory opinions addressed to executive branch officials;

(4) Agency statements of specific applicability, including advisory or legal opinions directed to particular parties about circumstance-specific questions (e.g., case or investigatory letters responding to complaints, warning letters), notices regarding particular locations or facilities (e.g., guidance pertaining to using, operating, or controlling a Government facility or property), and correspondence with individual people or entities (e.g., congressional correspondence), except documents ostensibly directed to a particular party but designed to guide the conduct of the broader regulated parties;

(5) Legal briefs, other court filings, or positions taken in litigation or enforcement actions;

(6) Agency statements that do not set forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue or an interpretation of a statute or regulation, including speeches and individual presentations, editorials, media interviews, press materials, or congressional testimony that do not set forth for the first time a new regulatory policy or guidance;

(7) Guidance pertaining to military or foreign affairs functions;

(8) Grant solicitations and awards;

(9) Contract solicitations and awards; or

(10) Purely internal agency policies or guidance directed solely to NARA employees or contractors or to other Federal agencies that we do not intend to have substantial future effect on the behavior of regulated parties.


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