Where can I find an official legal edition of the federal Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) online?

[amdt57]

Where can I find an official legal edition of the federal Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) online?

The website http://www.gpoaccess.gov provides an e-CFR online that you can browse through, but in their disclaimer they state that "It is not an official legal edition of the CFR."

The website http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text provides the CFR as well but does not seem to distinguish whether or not it is official. Is there any version of the CFR online that is considered official or would it only be available in print?

[hob97]

The Cornell version is official.

[pannoowau]

The "official" CFR is not necessarily online--not everything is, you know. Most law libraries have official GPO hardcopy CFR's and Federal Registers. States even farm out the publication--online and hardcopy--of their state codes and legislative Records to publishers like Lexis, Westlaw, CaseFinder, FastCase, etc., some of which one must subscribe to or pay per use. Many public libraries (not just law libraries) have dedicated FREE Lexis or Westlaw terminals, which provide online access to the CFR's.

The reason the GPO and Cornell versions have the disclaimer is because the CFR's are constantly being updated by the weekly Federal Register, and they don't have the person-power to guarantee that every update will be instantly added to their online CFR. However, the paid services, chiefly LEXIS and WESTLAW, do have very rapid updates because they are being paid to do it.

Even using LEXIS and WESTLAW it is a good idea to check the most recent hardcopy Federal Registers to make sure everything is current.