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Laws and Codes

S3: Science Safety Security

Biorisk Management 

Laws

Laws (also called Acts or Statutes) are passed by Congress and signed by the President of the United States. Laws form the basis for regulations, guidance, and policy. At the most basic level, laws explain what you can, cannot, or must do in the U.S. Laws may identify federal crimes or prohibit civil (noncriminal) behavior.

When a law is passed by Congress and signed by the President, it is given a Public Law number, formatted as PL-XXX. For example, the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act is numbered P.L. 107-188. However, once a law passes, it is formally incorporated into the United States Code, which is divided into very broad subject areas, named “titles”.

Public laws can enact new authorities or amend existing laws. If you want to see all the authorities enacted or amended by the law, you would look at the Public Law. If you want to see the most up to date version of a specific legal authority, including all amendments made by subsequent public laws, you would look at the United States Code for that subject.

U.S. Code

The U.S. Code is also called the Code of Laws of the United States of America. All laws passed in the U.S. are incorporated into the U.S. Code (codified) for reference by Congress and lawyers. The U.S. Code is divided into 50 sections, with a wide range of sizes.

The U.S. Code titles referenced below are:

  • Title 7 – Agriculture
  • Title 18 – Crimes and Criminal Procedure
  • Title 21 – Food and Drugs
  • Title 29 – Labor
  • Title 42 – The Public Health and Welfare

Within titles, the U.S. Code is divided into chapters, subchapters, parts, sections, paragraphs, and clauses. These divisions allow you to reference a very specific provision of the U.S. Code and to find the right provision within a very large document of laws.

This information is all contained in the format used to reference part of the U.S. Code. The U.S. Code references are written as follows:

Biorisk Management 

Many times you will see citations of just the title and chapter, meaning the person is referring to all of the provisions in that chapter. For example, 18 U.S.C. 175, refers to all of the criminal offenses defined in Title 18, Chapter 10, Section 175 of the U.S. Code named “Prohibitions with respect to biological weapons”. Chapter numbers are often not included in citations of specific sections of code.

Jurisdiction and Enforcement

The laws listed in the U.S. Code are enforced by a variety of agencies. Departments or Agencies are assigned specific authorities by Congress, which can include enforcing specific sections of the U.S. Code. However, the laws in Title 18 (Crimes and Criminal Procedure), are enforced by Agencies with law enforcement authorities, such as the FBI and DHS.

The Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 (PL-101-298): The purpose of the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 (commonly called the BWAT Statute) was to implement the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in U.S. law. This law amended 18 USC (Crime and Criminal Procedure) by inserting Chapter 10 (Biological Weapons), specifically Sections 175-178. (Titled “Prohibitions with Respect to Biological Weapons”). See also 18 U.S.C. 175.