How to interpret FDA List of CFR Sections affected (LSA)?
Dear Recipient,
would it be possible to get advice on how to track the annual changes in CFR section 21? In LSA-2025-03-Title21.pdf it is indicated:
176.170 Regulation at 87 FR 31089 confirmed......................86239
176.180 Regulation at 87 FR 31089.......................................86239
But we fail to find information of what "FR 31089" and "86239" refer to. Is there somewhere guidance/help available on the interpretation?
With kind regards, Outi Priha
Answer
Thank you for your question about the CFR List of Sections Affected.
87 FR 31089 is a citation to a page in the Federal Register. 87 is the volume number, FR is the abbreviation for Federal Register, and 31089 is the page number in this volume.
There are multiple ways to find this page in the Federal Register, but here is one relatively simple way to search a Federal Register citation in govinfo.gov:
1. Go to https://www.govinfo.gov/ and click on the Citation tab at the top of the search box.
2. Where it says "Select a Collection," Select Federal Register from the collection drop-down menu.
3. Where it says "Select Volume (Year)," select 87 (2022) from the drop-down menu.
4. Where it says "Numerical Page Number," enter the page number 31089 from your citation.
5. Click the Search button, and there will be one result from this search. You can click on the PDF button to see the page from the Federal Register displayed in PDF format. (The direct link to this page is https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-05-20/pdf/2022-10531.pdf#page=10)
Searching for 86239 is a bit trickier. It is also a page in the Federal Register, but they don't give the volume number. If you look at the bottom of the page in LSA-2025-03-Title21.pdf, there is a note indicating that Boldface page numbers indicate 2024 changes. That means this page appears in the 2024 volume of the Federal Register. Following the same instructions given above, you can find this page using these steps:
1. Go to https://www.govinfo.gov/ and click on the Citation tab at the top of the search box.
2. Where it says "Select a Collection," Select Federal Register from the collection drop-down menu.
3. Where it says "Select Volume (Year)," select 89 (2024) from the drop-down menu.
4. Where it says "Numerical Page Number," enter the page number 86239 from your citation.
5. There will be two results from this search because this page is also the last page in a previous rule. Select the second result (89 FR 86239) and click on the PDF button to see the page from the Federal Register displayed in PDF format. The direct link is https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-10-30/pdf/2024-25122.pdf#page=1
An alternative way to search for 86239 if you don't know the volume number is to start at https://www.govinfo.gov/ and click on the Search Tab instead of the Citation tab. Enter "FR 86239" (with the quotation marks) and the first item in the search results will be what you are looking for. This is not an orthodox way to search the Federal Register, though, so I don't know if it would work for other citations. It did not work (for me, anyway) for FR 31089.
I hope this information is helpful. If this is not what you need, or if there is any other assistance we can provide, please let me know.
Bobby Griffith
Lead Government Information Reference Associate
Sycamore Library
University of North Texas Libraries