§  0.445   Publication, availability, and use of opinions, orders, policy
statements, interpretations, administrative manuals, staff instructions, and
frequently requested records.

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

   (b) Documents 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 Communications Regulation.

   (c) All rulemaking documents or summaries thereof are published in the
   Federal Register and are available on the Commission's Web site. 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 Reference Information Center, via the Electronic
   Document Management System (EDOCS), or as otherwise specified in the
   rulemaking document published in the Federal Register.

   (d) Formal policy statements and interpretations designed to have
   general applicability are published on the Commission's Web site and in
   the Federal Register, the FCC Record, FCC Reports, or Pike and Fischer
   Communications Regulation. 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 Communications Regulation. General
   statements regarding policy and interpretations furnished to
   individuals, in correspondence or otherwise, are not ordinarily
   published.

   (e) Copies of all records that have been released to any person under
   § 0.461 and that because of the nature of their subject matter, the
   Commission determines have become or are likely to become the subject
   of subsequent requests for substantially the same records, or that have
   been requested three or more times, are made available in electronic
   format.

   (f) 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 Communications Regulation, they are
   indexed, and 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 or she 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 a recent document that is pending publication.

   (g) 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. All general instructions to the staff and limitations upon its
   authority are set forth in those subparts or in decisions of the
   Commission published in the Federal Register. Instructions to the staff
   in particular matters or cases are privileged and/or protected and are
   not published or made available for public inspection.

   (h) To the extent required to prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of
   personal privacy, or to prevent disclosure of information required or
   authorized to be withheld by another statute, the Commission may delete
   identifying details or confidential information 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.

   [ 82 FR 4188 , Jan. 13, 2017]