Laws, Regulations and Guidance

Laws & Regulations

Are you a lawyer or financial advisor working with a client who owns Treasury securities? Are you a law student researching a paper? Are you just curious about the laws and regulations on which our programs are based? This page links you to the relevant information.

Authorizing Statutes

These are the laws that authorize us to sell securities and that govern securities brokers and dealers. We use the Government Printing Office (GPO) website to link to the statutes. GPO has the official legal text.

Sale of Treasury Securities 31 U.S.C. Title 31, Subtitle III, Subchapter I authorizes Treasury to borrow money and Subtitle II governs the administration of debt.
Government Securities Act (15 U.S.C. Chapter 2B Section 780-5) governs government securities brokers and dealers.

Regulations

Regulations tell how to carry out the laws. Some of Treasury’s regulations are in Title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations (31 CFR). Treasury’s Government Securities Act (GSA) regulations are in Title 17.

The current rules are at the website, www.ecfr.gov.

The regulations are also Treasury department circulars, and you can reach many of them through our page on CFR department circulars.

More detailed pages for:

Savings bond laws and regulations
Series EE, HH, and I savings bonds
Treasury Marketable securities laws and regulations
Treasury Direct, TRADES (related to the commercial book-entry system), buybacks, and Legacy Treasury Direct.
Auction laws, regulations, and guidance
The Uniform Offering Circular (UOC), which is the regulation about Treasury auctions, as well as a history of amendments and interpretations
Government Securities Act (GSA) regulations
Treasury's rules for government securities broker-dealers on financial responsibility, protecting customer securities and funds, record keeping, and financial reporting and audits. Also included are rules concerning custodial holdings of government securities by depository institutions.
Large Position Reporting Rules

Non-Marketable Treasury Securities

State and Local Government Series (SLGS) (Part 344)
Describes the terms and conditions for the sale of Special securities for issuers of tax-exempt securities, mostly States and local governments.

Federal Register

The Federal Register – the daily publication related to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) – includes more than what is in the actual CFR. For example, it includes notices and other important information about proposed changes.

The links in this list take you to pages on our site with links to PDFs of Federal Register items about Treasury securities and about the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. (Note that before 2013, we were the Bureau of the Public Debt.)

To review or comment on proposed or interim regulations from us or any other federal agencies, go to www.regulation.gov.

Other Legal References

Article on Recent Developments Related to Treasury's "TRADES" Regulations
As the name indicates, this page summarizes Treasury's "TRADES" Regulations. The TRADES regulations govern holdings of marketable Treasury securities outside of TreasuryDirect. They were enacted in 1996.
Frauds, Phonies and Scams
If you have been presented with a suspicious Treasury Security that doesn't look right or have been invited to participate in a Treasury Securities transaction ''guaranteed'' to make lots of money, visit our web page related to ''frauds and phonies'' to read about fraudulent schemes and phony financial instruments.
Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)
Visit our web pages for useful information about FOIA, including how to make a FOIA request.