Under interim American rule, he is now free to practice his religion as he sees fit.

"My only task is to comply for 90 days, to carry out an interim rule," he said.

The order requires the agency to adopt interim rules within 90 days to carry it out.

The 500-page "interim final rule" is still subject to a 60-day public comment period and would come into force a year from now.

They were published in the Federal Register as interim rules on December 22, 1997.

VA afforded interested parties the opportunity to comment on the interim rule.

The final rule has been issued after considering the 713 comments which were received in response to the interim rule.

At the same time, we proposed interim rules on the basis of Article 308.

My question therefore is how long can such an interim rule be valid and how must we view it?

The interim rule included a 60-day comment period, which subsequently was extended an additional 30 days.