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Federal Election Commission | United States of America

Legal resources

Explore relevant statutes, regulations, Commission actions and court cases. Making these resources public clarifies campaign finance legal requirements.

Examples: 102.2; electioneering

Advisory opinions

Advisory opinions are official Commission responses to questions about how federal campaign finance law applies to specific, factual situations.

This archive contains advisory opinions from 1975 to the present. It also contains documents related to advisory opinions — such as requests, drafts and public comments — from 1990 to the present.

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Enforcement

The FEC has exclusive jurisdiction over the civil enforcement of the federal campaign finance law.

FEC enforcement matters, called Matters Under Review (MURs), are primarily handled by the Office of General Counsel. Enforcement cases must be kept confidential until the cases are closed.

Other programs designed to augment the Office of General Counsel’s enforcement role include the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, Administrative Fine Program and Audit Program.

Learn more about each program or search closed cases and audits.

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Regulations

As part of its role administering campaign finance law, the Commission issues regulations, which are published every year in Title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). This archive contains a full-text version of 11 CFR, as published January 1, 2017.

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Statutes and legislation

Statutes

The FEC administers and enforces the Federal Election Campaign Act, the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act and the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account Act. Those acts and amendments, which are passed by Congress and signed by the President, are collected and restated as law in Title 52 and Title 26 of the U.S. Code.

This archive contains the portions of Title 52 and Title 26 that are administered by FEC.

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Legislation

Browse selected amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act and Commission recommendations to Congress.

Court cases

Learn more about active and past cases involving the FEC.

Policy statements and other guidance

Access statements, interpretive rules and other guidance issued by the FEC.

This information is not intended to replace the law or to change its meaning, nor does this information create or confer any rights for or on any person or bind the Federal Election Commission or the public.

The reader is encouraged also to consult the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.), Commission regulations (Title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations), Commission advisory opinions and applicable court decisions.