On 23 January, the US Government introduced a new website—www.regulations.gov—that, according to the site's homepage, will make it easier for individuals “to participate in Federal rulemaking—an essential part of the American democratic process.” This new, easy-to-use website may make it significantly easier for citizens concerned with animal welfare to learn about new regulations on the care and use of laboratory animals, and to respond to them quickly and effectively.

The new website contains descriptions of every proposed and final Federal regulation currently open for comment and published in the Federal Register. Visitors can read the full text of the regulations, and submit their comments through this website, to the Federal agencies responsible for the rulemaking action. Visitors can submit comments on specific documents, or submit a comment directly to the agency through the PDF or HTML version.

Participating government agencies include the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Comm unications Commission (FCC), the Government Services Administration (GSA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

More than 4,000 new rules a year are generated by some 160 federal agencies implementing Congressional laws. The expected capacity of this new site is at least 2,000 users at a time, or 16,000 comments per hour1.