x>EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
CROMERR Definitions
Acknowledgment means a confirmation of electronic document receipt.
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authorization, or approval has not been withdrawn or expired.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.
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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.
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.
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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.
Office of Environmental ^"^^^
Information (2812A) WWW.epa.gOV/O6l £_J
www.epa.gov/oei ^ ~^
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