Sec.  0.445   Publication, availability and use of opinions, orders, policy
statements, interpretations, administrative manuals, and staff instructions.

   (a) Adjudicatory opinions and orders of the Commission, or its staff acting
   on delegated authority, are mailed to the parties, and as part of the
   record, are available for inspection in accordance with  Sec.  Sec. 0.453 and 0.455.

   (b) Texts adopted by the Commission or a member of its staff on delegated
   authority and released through the Office of Media Relations are published
   in the FCC Record. Older materials of this nature are available in the FCC
   Reports. In the event that such older materials are not published in the FCC
   Reports, reference should be made to the Federal Register or Pike and
   Fischer Radio Regulation.

   (c) All rulemaking documents are published in the Federal Register.
   Summaries of the full Notices of proposed rule making and other rule making
   decisions adopted by the Commission constitute rulemaking documents for
   purposes of Federal Register publication. See  Sec. 1.412(a)(1). The complete
   text of the Commission decision also is released by the Commission and is
   available for inspection and copying during normal business hours in the
   Office of Media Relations or as otherwise specified in the rulemaking
   document published in the Federal Register. Docketed matters are available
   to the public via the Electronic Comment Filing System maintained in the
   Reference Information Center at 445 12th Street, Washington, DC. The
   complete texts of rulemaking decisions may also be purchased from the
   Commission's duplicating contractor.

   (d) Formal policy statements and interpretations designed to have general
   applicability and legal effect are published in the Federal Register, the
   FCC Record, FCC Reports, or Pike and Fischer. Commission decisions and other
   Commission documents not entitled formal policy statements or
   interpretations may contain substantive interpretations and statements
   regarding policy, and these are published as part of the document in the FCC
   Record, FCC Reports or Pike and Fischer. General statements regarding policy
   and interpretations furnished to individuals, in correspondence or
   otherwise, are not ordinarily published.

   (e) If the documents described in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section
   are published in the Federal Register, the FCC Record, FCC Reports, or Pike
   and Fischer Radio Regulation, they may be relied upon, used or cited as
   precedent by the Commission or private parties in any manner. If they are
   not so published, they may not be relied upon, used or cited as precedent,
   except against persons who have actual notice of the document in question or
   by such persons against the Commission. No person is expected to comply with
   any requirement or policy of the Commission unless he has actual notice of
   that requirement or policy or a document stating it has been published as
   provided in this paragraph. Nothing in this paragraph, however, shall be
   construed as precluding a reference to the rationale set forth in a recent
   document that is pending publication if the requirment or policy to which
   the rationale relates is contained in a published document or if actual
   notice of that requirement or policy has been given.

   (f) The Federal Register, the FCC Record, FCC Reports and Pike and Fischer
   Radio Regulation are indexed. If the documents described in paragraphs
   (a)–(d) of this section are not published, they are neither indexed nor
   relied upon, except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section.

   (g) The FCC Administrative Manual (excepting Part IX, concerning Civil
   Defense, which contains materials classified under E.O. 10501) is available
   for inspection in the Office of the Managing Director. The Manual is not
   indexed but is organized by subject, with tables of contents, and the
   materials contained therein can be located without difficulty.

   (h) Subparts A and B of this part describe the functions of the staff and
   list the matters on which authority has been delegated to the staff. Except
   as provided in paragraph (g) of this section, all general instructions to
   the staff and limitations upon its authority are set forth in those
   subparts. As part of the Commission's rules and regulations, the provisions
   of these subparts are indexed in the Federal Register and the Code of
   Federal Regulations. Instructions to the staff in particular matters or
   cases are privileged and are not published or made available for public
   inspection.

   (i) To the extent required to prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of
   personal privacy, the Commission may delete identifying details when it
   makes available or publishes any document described in this section. The
   justification for any such deletion will be fully explained in a preamble to
   the document.

   [ 32 FR 10573 , July 19, 1967, as amended at  40 FR 17255 , Apr. 18, 1975;  50 FR 27953 , July 9, 1985;  51 FR 7444 , Mar. 4, 1986;  51 FR 45889 , Dec. 23, 1986;
    61 FR 8477 , Mar. 5, 1996;  64 FR 60723 , Nov. 8, 1999]