On September 18, 2026, the Department of Justice announced two revisions to the Justice Manual aimed at sharpening the standards governing False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement. The changes address two distinct enforcement levers: the Department’s reliance on sub-regulatory guidance to establish liability, and its use of dismissal authority over qui tam actions in which the government has declined to intervene. Both revisions are framed by Department leadership as efforts to promote fair notice, transparent enforcement, and more efficient use of government resources.

What Changed

1. Limits on sub-regulatory guidance: The first revision reinstates and builds on the Department’s 2017 policy providing that sub-regulatory guidance, including agency letters, manuals, bulletins, and similar materials that lack the force and effect of law, cannot itself create binding legal obligations beyond those already established by statute or regulation. The policy had been rescinded in 2023 and is now being restored and revised. Under the revised policy, the Department states it will hold individuals and businesses accountable only for violating binding legal or contractual obligations, not for departing from guidance that does not carry independent legal force. The Department has stated that this also directs its enforcement resources toward violations of binding obligations, rather than technical or interpretive disputes over non-binding guidance. Under the new provisions, the Department may...

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