A notice of proposed rulemaking or NPRM is issued by law when a regulatory agency of the United States Federal Government wishes to add, remove, or change a rule (or regulation) as part of the rulemaking process.

The NPRM is required and defined by the Administrative Procedure Act. The Constitution does not require NPRM. Rather, Congress created the requirement to enlighten agencies--that is, to force them to listen to comments and concerns of people whom the regulation will likely affect. The FAA, FCC, NTIA, and EPA are examples of agencies subject to these procedures.

The NPRM is published in the Federal Register and typically gives 60 days for public comment from any interested party, and an additional 30 days for reply comments. Original comments may still be filed in the reply comments window. While this is the normal method of agency rulemaking, emergency rulemaking is allowed to bypass the NPRM process. The APA does not require notice for "interpretative" rules and general statements of policy.

See also

• Request for Comments (RFC) in Internet governance.

United States administrative law