Home News Section 106 Amendments Become Effective August 5, 2004

Amendments to the regulations governing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. § 470f) were published July 6, 2004, in the Federal Register. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) voted to adopt the amendments at its summer 2004 business meeting May 4, 2004.

The amendments become effective August 5, 2004.

Read the Section 106 Regulations with the Amendments (in PDF)

Read the Preamble to the Amendments (in PDF)

As explained more fully in the preamble linked above, most of the amendments respond to court decisions which held that:

1. The ACHP cannot require a Federal agency to change its determinations regarding whether its undertakings affected, or adversely affected, historic properties; and
2. Section 106 does not apply to undertakings that are merely subject to State or local regulation administered pursuant to a delegation or approval by a Federal agency.

Other amendments clarify an issue regarding the time period for objections to "no adverse effect" findings, and establish that the ACHP can propose an exemption to the Section 106 process on its own initiative, rather than needing a Federal agency to make such a proposal.

Note: You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print the documents. If you do not have the program, please visit Adobe to download the free Acrobat Reader. For conversion of PDF to HTML, visit Access Adobe's free conversion service.

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An independent Federal agency, the ACHP promotes historic preservation nationally by providing a forum for influencing Federal activities, programs, and policies that affect historic properties, advising the President and Congress, advocating preservation policy, improving Federal preservation programs, protecting historic properties, and educating stakeholders and the public.

Posted July 8, 2004

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