Oregon Administrative Rules (OARs), often called just “Administrative Rules,” are created by entities with rulemaking authority per Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 183.310(9)​ to implement or interpret their specific statutes.

Administrative Rules may be adopted, amended, repealed, or renumbered using the permanent rulemaking process to file what is called an Administrative Order. This process creates the Administrative Order Number (AON).

​Administrative rules may also be adopted, amended, or temporarily suspended using the temporary rulemaking process for up to 180 days maximum per ORS 183.335(6)(a). This process creates an AON also.

Understanding Administrative Orders

The official copy of an Oregon Administrative Rule is the Administrative Order. When the Administrative Order is filed, it creates an Administrative Order Number.

OARs may be filed in groups or individually. A filing that has a group of OARs filed will create the same AON for all the OARs in the filing.

The AON for each rulemaking action taken on an OAR can be found below each published rule in the history section. The most recent change to an administrative rule is listed at the top of the history section. Each AON is comprised of 3 parts:

• The first part is always an alphabetic abbreviation that identifies the entity filing the rule.
• The second part is a number representing how many filings that entity has filed during the calendar year to that point.
• The third part is the calendar year in which the filing took place
• Example: ELECT 14-2015, f.12-31-15, cert. ef. 7-6-16
• Secretary of State Elections Division (ELECT)
• 14th filing
• For the calendar year 2015
• Filed on December 31, 2015
• Effective date is July 6, 2016