(a) Quality assurance applies to all assistance agreements that involve environmentally related data operations, including environmental data collection, production or use.

(b) Recipients shall develop a written quality assurance system commensurate with the degree of confidence needed for the environmentally related data operations.

(c) If the recipient complies with EPA's quality policy, the system will be presumed to be in compliance with the quality assurance system requirement. The recipient may also comply with the quality assurance system requirement by complying with American National Standard ASQ/ANSI E4:2014: Quality management systems for environmental information and technology programs.

(d) The recipient shall submit the written quality assurance system for EPA review. Upon EPA's written approval, the recipient shall implement the EPA-approved quality assurance system.

(e) EPA Quality Policy is available at: https://www.epa.gov/quality.

(f) The standards required in this section are incorporated by reference into this section with the approval of the Director of the Federal Register under 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51.

The material is available for inspection at the Environmental Protection Agency's Headquarters Library, Room 3340, EPA West Building, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20004, (202) 566-0556. A copy is also available for inspection at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). For information on the availability of this material at NARA, call 202-741-6030, or go to: http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/code_of_federal_regulations/ibr_locations.html.

(1) American Society for Quality, 600 North Plankinton Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53201, 1-800-248-1946, http://asq.org.

(i) American National Standard ASQ/ANSI E4:2014: Quality management systems for environmental information and technology programs—Requirements with guidance for use, approved February 4, 2014.

(ii) [Reserved]

(2) [Reserved]