(a) This part applies to:

(1) Persons who submit reports or other documents to EPA to satisfy requirements under Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR); and

(2) States, tribes, and local governments administering or seeking to administer authorized programs under Title 40 of the CFR.

(b) This part does not apply to:

(1) Documents submitted via facsimile in satisfaction of reporting requirements as permitted under other parts of Title 40 or under authorized programs;

(2) Electronic documents submitted via magnetic or optical media such as diskette, compact disc, digital video disc, or tape in satisfaction of reporting requirements, as permitted under other parts of Title 40 or under authorized programs; or

(3) Documents and information submitted under grants, cooperative agreements, or financial assistant regulations contained in Title 40.

(c) This part does not apply to any data transfers between EPA and states, tribes, or local governments as a part of their authorized programs or as a part of administrative arrangements between states, tribes, or local governments and EPA to share data.

(a) Electronic reporting to EPA. Except as provided in § 3.1(b), any person who is required under Title 40 to create and submit or otherwise provide a document to EPA may satisfy this requirement with an electronic document, in lieu of a paper document, provided that:

(1) He or she satisfies the requirements of § 3.10; and

(2) EPA has first published a notice in the Federal Register announcing that EPA is prepared to receive, in electronic form, documents required or permitted by the identified part or subpart of Title 40.

(b) Electronic reporting under an EPA-authorized state, tribe, or local program. (1) An authorized program may allow any document submission requirement under that program to be satisfied with an electronic document provided that the state, tribe, or local government seeks and obtains revision or modification of that program in accordance with § 3.1000 and also meets the requirements of § 3.2000 for such electronic reporting.

(2) A state, tribe, or local government that is applying for initial delegation, authorization, or approval to administer a federal program or a program in lieu of the federal program, and that will allow document submission requirements under the program to be satisfied with an electronic document, must use the procedures for obtaining delegation, authorization, or approval under the relevant part of Title 40 and may not use the procedures set forth in § 3.1000; but the application must contain the information required by § 3.1000(b)(1) and the state, tribe, or local government must meet the requirements of § 3.2000.

(c) Limitations. This part does not require submission of electronic documents in lieu of paper. This part confers no right or privilege to submit data electronically and does not obligate EPA, states, tribes, or local governments to accept electronic documents.

The definitions set forth in this section apply when used in this part.

Acknowledgment means a confirmation of electronic document receipt.

Administrator means the Administrator of the EPA.

Agency means the EPA or a state, tribe, or local government that administers or seeks to administer an authorized program.

Agreement collection certification means a signed statement by which a local registration authority certifies that a subscriber agreement has been received from a registrant; the agreement has been stored in a manner that prevents unauthorized access to these agreements by anyone other than the local registration authority; and the local registration authority has no basis to believe that any of the collected agreements have been tampered with or prematurely destroyed.

Authorized program means a Federal program that EPA has delegated, authorized, or approved a state, tribe, or local government to administer, or a program that EPA has delegated, authorized, or approved a state, tribe or local government to administer in lieu of a Federal program, under other provisions of Title 40 and such delegation, authorization, or approval has not been withdrawn or expired.

Central Data Exchange means EPA's centralized electronic document receiving system, or its successors, including associated instructions for submitting electronic documents.

Chief Information Officer means the EPA official assigned the functions described in section 5125 of the Clinger Cohen Act (Pub. L. 104-106).

Copy of record means a true and correct copy of an electronic document received by an electronic document receiving system, which copy can be viewed in a human-readable format that clearly and accurately associates all the information provided in the electronic document with descriptions or labeling of the information. A copy of record includes:

(1) All electronic signatures contained in or logically associated with that document;

(2) The date and time of receipt; and

(3) Any other information used to record the meaning of the document or the circumstances of its receipt.

Disinterested individual means an individual who is not connected with the person in whose name the electronic signature device is issued. A disinterested individual is not any of the following: The person's employer or employer's corporate parent, subsidiary, or affiliate; the person's contracting agent; member of the person's household; or relative with whom the person has a personal relationship.

Electronic document means any information in digital form that is conveyed to an agency or third-party, where “information” may include data, text, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, or databases. “Data,” in this context, refers to a delimited set of data elements, each of which consists of a content or value together with an understanding of what the content or value means; where the electronic document includes data, this understanding of what the data element content or value means must be explicitly included in the electronic document itself or else be readily available to the electronic document recipient.

Electronic document receiving system means any set of apparatus, procedures, software, records, or documentation used to receive electronic documents.

Electronic signature means any information in digital form that is included in or logically associated with an electronic document for the purpose of expressing the same meaning and intention as would a handwritten signature if affixed to an equivalent paper document with the same reference to the same content. The electronic document bears or has on it an electronic signature where it includes or has logically associated with it such information.

Electronic signature agreement means an agreement signed by an individual with respect to an electronic signature device that the individual will use to create his or her electronic signatures requiring such individual to protect the electronic signature device from compromise; to promptly report to the agency or agencies relying on the electronic signatures created any evidence discovered that the device has been compromised; and to be held as legally bound, obligated, or responsible by the electronic signatures created as by a handwritten signature.

Electronic signature device means a code or other mechanism that is used to create electronic signatures. Where the device is used to create an individual's electronic signature, then the code or mechanism must be unique to that individual at the time the signature is created and he or she must be uniquely entitled to use it. The device is compromised if the code or mechanism is available for use by any other person.

EPA means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Existing electronic document receiving system means an electronic document receiving system that is being used to receive electronic documents in lieu of paper to satisfy requirements under an authorized program on October 13, 2005 or the system, if not in use, has been substantially developed on or before that date as evidenced by the establishment of system services or specifications by contract or other binding agreement.

Federal program means any program administered by EPA under any other provision of Title 40.

Federal reporting requirement means a requirement to report information directly to EPA under any other provision of Title 40.

Handwritten signature means the scripted name or legal mark of an individual, handwritten by that individual with a marking-or writing-instrument such as a pen or stylus and executed or adopted with the present intention to authenticate a writing in a permanent form, where “a writing” means any intentional recording of words in a visual form, whether in the form of handwriting, printing, typewriting, or any other tangible form. The physical instance of the scripted name or mark so created constitutes the handwritten signature. The scripted name or legal mark, while conventionally applied to paper, may also be applied to other media.

Information or objects of independent origin means data or items that originate from a disinterested individual or are forensic evidence of a unique, immutable trait which is (and may at any time be) attributed to the individual in whose name the device is issued.

Local registration authority means an individual who is authorized by a state, tribe, or local government to issue an agreement collection certification, whose identity has been established by notarized affidavit, and who is authorized in writing by a regulated entity to issue agreement collection certifications on its behalf.

Priority reports means the reports listed in Appendix 1 to part 3.

Subscriber agreement means an electronic signature agreement signed by an individual with a handwritten signature. This agreement must be stored until five years after the associated electronic signature device has been deactivated.

Transmit means to successfully and accurately convey an electronic document so that it is received by the intended recipient in a format that can be processed by the electronic document receiving system.

Valid electronic signature means an electronic signature on an electronic document that has been created with an electronic signature device that the identified signatory is uniquely entitled to use for signing that document, where this device has not been compromised, and where the signatory is an individual who is authorized to sign the document by virtue of his or her legal status and/or his or her relationship to the entity on whose behalf the signature is executed.

(a) A person is subject to any applicable federal civil, criminal, or other penalties and remedies for failure to comply with a federal reporting requirement if the person submits an electronic document to EPA under this part that fails to comply with the provisions of § 3.10.

(b) A person is subject to any applicable federal civil, criminal, or other penalties or remedies for failure to comply with a State, tribe, or local reporting requirement if the person submits an electronic document to a State, tribe, or local government under an authorized program and fails to comply with the applicable provisions for electronic reporting.

(c) Where an electronic document submitted to satisfy a federal or authorized program reporting requirement bears an electronic signature, the electronic signature legally binds, obligates, and makes the signatory responsible, to the same extent as the signatory's handwritten signature would on a paper document submitted to satisfy the same federal or authorized program reporting requirement.

(d) Proof that a particular signature device was used to create an electronic signature will suffice to establish that the individual uniquely entitled to use the device did so with the intent to sign the electronic document and give it effect.

(e) Nothing in this part limits the use of electronic documents or information derived from electronic documents as evidence in enforcement or other proceedings.