---
kind: "section"
citation: "50 U.S.C. § 1631"
title: "50"
title_heading: "War and National Defense"
number: "1631"
heading: "Declaration of national emergency by Executive order; authority; publication in Federal Register; transmittal to Congress"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/50/1631"
units:
  - "Chapter 34 — National Emergencies"
  - "Subchapter III — Exercise of Emergency Powers and Authorities"
---

# §1631. Declaration of national emergency by Executive order; authority; publication in Federal Register; transmittal to Congress


When the President declares a national emergency, no powers or authorities made available by statute for use in the event of an emergency shall be exercised unless and until the President specifies the provisions of law under which he proposes that he, or other officers will act. Such specification may be made either in the declaration of a national emergency, or by one or more contemporaneous or subsequent Executive orders published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 94–412, title III, § 301, Sept. 14, 1976, 90 Stat. 1257.)

## Notes

### Executive Documents

### Release of American Hostages in Iran

For provisions relating to the release of the American hostages in Iran, see Ex. Ord. Nos. 12276 to 12285, Jan. 19, 1981, 46 F.R. 7913 to 7932, listed in a table under section 1701 of this title.