Administrative Procedure Act (APA)

The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) is the United States federal statute, enacted June 11 1946 and codified chiefly at 5 U.S.C. Subchapter II (Sections 551 to 559, with judicial review provisions at 701 to 706), that governs how federal administrative agencies develop and issue regulations and establishes the framework for judicial review of agency action. It requires notice-and-comment rulemaking for most regulations: an agency must publish a proposed rule in the Federal Register, accept public comment, and consider that comment before issuing a final rule. It also sets standards for formal and informal adjudication and empowers courts to set aside agency action found to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. It is commonly described as the enabling frame for the modern regulatory state: the statute under whose procedures federal agencies issue the great majority of binding federal regulations.