Why the eCFR Banner Date Isn't Your Section's Date

When you open a section on eCFR.gov, the banner at the top of the page tells you when the entire CFR title was last refreshed — not when the specific section you’re reading last changed. To find out when your section actually changed, skip the banner and look at the bracketed Federal Register credit line printed at the bottom of the section text.

This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.

Key points

• The top banner describes the whole title (all its parts, chapters, and sections combined), not the individual section on the page (28 CFR 35.200 on eCFR (current)).
• The section-specific answer lives in the bracketed citation line at the foot of a section, as shown below for 36.304, which lists the Federal Register documents that created or last amended it (28 CFR 36.304 on eCFR (current)).
• An undated /current/... URL carries no date in the link itself, so what it renders depends on when it’s requested (28 CFR 35.200 on eCFR (current)).
• A dated /on/YYYY-MM-DD/... URL pins the page to that specific date, and its own banner states that explicitly (28 CFR 35.200 on eCFR (as of 4/1/2026)).
• Because /current/ links carry no date, what a saved /current/ link renders depends on when it’s opened; a saved /on/DATE/ link’s address names that date directly (28 CFR 35.200 on eCFR (current); 28 CFR 35.200 on eCFR (as of 4/1/2026)).

What the title-level banner actually says

On both of the following pages, the banner at the top reads the same way, because it describes title 28 as a whole rather than either individual section:

“Displaying title 28, up to date as of 9/03/2026. Title 28 was last amended 9/01/2026.” — 28 CFR 35.200 on eCFR (current)

“Displaying title 28, up to date as of 9/03/2026. Title 28 was last amended 9/01/2026.” — 28 CFR 36.304 on eCFR (current)

Section 35.200 and section 36.304 are different sections with different histories, yet the banner text is identical on both pages. That identity is the tell: this banner is a title-wide freshness statement, not a per-section one. It cannot answer “when did this paragraph last change.”

Where a section’s own date lives

The answer to “when did this section last change” is printed at the bottom of the section, as a bracketed Federal Register credit line. For section 36.304, that line reads:

“[Order No. 1513-91, 56 FR 35592, July 26, 1991, as amended by AG Order No. 3181-2010, 75 FR 56254, Sept. 15, 2010; AG Order No. 3332-2012, 77 FR 30179, May 21, 2012]” — 28 CFR 36.304 on eCFR (current)

This line names the specific Federal Register documents — including their FR citation and publication date — that established and later amended this particular section. That is the section-level history the top banner cannot provide.

Why URL form changes saved links

The URL path also matters, separately from the banner. An undated URL, such as https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-28/section-35.200, carries no date in the address itself, so it reflects whatever text is in force at the time it’s requested. A dated URL pins the rendering to one specific day. Requesting the dated version of the same section produces a banner that says so directly:

“Displaying the eCFR in effect on 4/01/2026.” — 28 CFR 35.200 on eCFR (as of 4/1/2026)

Because the /current/... form encodes no date, what a bookmarked or shared /current/... link displays depends on when it’s opened, since the address itself does not fix a moment in time. A /on/YYYY-MM-DD/... link differs in that respect: it names its date directly in the address, so the address itself identifies which date’s text it points to.

What this article does not answer

This article does not address whether a dated /on/YYYY-MM-DD/... rendering is complete or fully accurate for every historical date — it only describes how the banner and URL forms behave and where the section-level date is printed. It also does not address the substance, meaning, or compliance implications of section 35.200 or section 36.304 themselves; the sections above are used only as examples of how the banner, citation line, and URL forms work.

Source links

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-28/section-35.200 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-28/section-36.304 https://www.ecfr.gov/on/2026-04-01/title-28/section-35.200