The Rules database contains all of the FCC's rules and regulations as they are codified in Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This database also includes commonly used engineering bulletins issued by the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET Bulletins). The Rules database is updated whenever changes to the rules become effective. New or revised rules generally do not become effective on the date the FCC releases the order adopting them. Instead, their effective date is usually subsequent to their publication in the Federal Register. The order adopting the rules change specifies when the changes become effective.
This feature allows you to browse through a list of FCC rules and OET Bulletins for the purpose of reading a rule or restricting a word or phrase search to specific rules or bulletins. Click on a rule part to view a list of rule sections included in that part.
- To read a rule part or section: click on the desired rule part to see a list of rule sections in that part. From the expanded list, click on the box next to the part or section you wish to read. Then click on the ADD TO MY SEARCH button at the bottom of the pop-up. The rule part or section number you chose will now appear in the FCC Rule Part or FCC Rule Section field in the Search FCC Rules search form. Click SEARCH FCC RULES to retrieve the desired rule.
- To restrict a word or phrase search to specific FCC rule parts or sections: click the box adjacent to the rule part(s) or section(s) you wish to search. Then click the ADD TO MY SEARCH button. The rule part or section number(s) you chose will now appear in the FCC Rule Part or FCC Rule Section box in the Search FCC Rules search form. Enter your search terms into the Word or Phrase field and click SEARCH FCC RULES. Your search will be restricted to those rule parts or sections chosen.
Use this field to read a specific FCC rule part by typing the part number in the box and clicking on the SEARCH FCC RULES button.
| Examples: | 75, 76 | |
| 15 |
Alternatively, click on Browse the FCC Rules to search to choose the parts you wish to search.
Use this field to read a specific FCC rule section by typing the section number in the box and clicking on the SEARCH FCC RULES button.
| Examples: | 17.21 | |
| 90.20(a) |
Alternatively, click on Browse the FCC Rules to search to choose the sections you wish to search.
Use this field to search for words or phrases within the rules database, or within the rule part or section you specified in the boxes above. You do not need to use any special punctuation or commands to search for a phrase. Simply enter the phrase the way it ordinarily appears. If a phrase contains a noise word, your search will skip over that word when searching for it. Use connector, wildcard and stemming tools to fine-tune your results.
| Examples: | satellite | |
| regulatory fees | ||
| tower or antenna | ||
| interference and coordination |
back to topYour search may consist of a group of words or phrases linked by connectors such as and and or that indicate the relationship between them.
| Examples: | apple and pear | « Both words must be present | |
| apple or pear | « Either word can be present | ||
| apple w/5 pear | « Apple must occur within 5 words of pear | ||
| apple not w/5 pear | « Apple must not occur within 5 words of pear | ||
| apple and not pear | « Only apple must be present |
If you use more than one connector, you should use parentheses to indicate precisely what you want to search for. For example, apple and pear or orange juice could mean (apple and pear) or orange, or it could mean apple and (pear or orange).
Noise words, such as if and the, are ignored in searches. » More about connectors
A search word can contain the wildcard characters * and ?. A ? in a word matches any single character, and a * matches any number of characters. The wildcard characters can be in any position in a word.
| Examples: | appl* | « would match apple, application, etc. | |
| *cipl* | « would match principle, participle, etc. | ||
| appl? | « would match apply and apple but not apples. | ||
| apple not w/5 pear | « Apple must not occur within 5 words of pear | ||
| ap*ed | « would match applied, approved, etc |
Note that use of the * wildcard character near the beginning of a word may slow search performance.
You may use the ~ character to extend or stem your search to cover grammatical variations on a word.
| Examples: | test~ | « would also find testing | |
| apply~ | « would also find applying, applies, and apply |
» More search tips