Viewing an earlier version · effective Jul 7, 2020View current - (a) We post the cleared document on our centralized guidance portal at www.archives.gov/guidance. The portal contains a searchable, indexed database of our various kinds of guidance along with links to each document and an agency-unique identifier, title, date issued, z-RIN, if applicable, topic keywords, brief summary, date added to the portal, and any status information (for example, that it supersedes a previous guidance document). All guidance currently in effect (including guidance originally issued before April 30, 2020) must appear on the portal; if it does not, it is deemed rescinded and without any effect.
- (b) The guidance portal notes that guidance documents lack the force and effect of law on the public, except as authorized by law, executive order, or regulation or as incorporated into a contract, and that the guidance is not legally binding on the public, except as established by such law, regulation, or contract. Each guidance document and web page that contains a listing of guidance must also include an appropriate notice about the force and effect of the guidance.
- (c) The guidance portal also includes instructions for how the public can comment on guidance documents that are subject to the informal notice-and-comment procedures described in § 1213.8 and to submit requests that we issue, reconsider, modify, or rescind guidance documents, in accordance with § 1213.10. It also provides contact information for the public to submit complaints that an office is not following the requirements of OMB's Good Guidance Bulletin or is improperly treating a guidance document as a requirement binding on the public.