&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Information Collection:
CROMERR Overview
For Regulated Entities Reporting Directly to EPA
What is CROMERR?
EPA's Cross-Media Electronic Reporting
Regulation (CROMERR) provides the legal
framework for electronic reporting to EPA
and states, tribes, and local governments
(hereafter referred to simply as "delegated
programs") that are authorized to administer
EPA programs. CROMERR is intended to
reduce the cost and burden of electronic
reporting while maintaining the level of
corporate and individual responsibility and
accountability that exists in the paper
environment.
How & When Does It Apply?
CROMERR Applies To:
• Persons or entities that submit electronic reports
or documents to EPA.
• Authorized programs that receive electronic
reports or documents.
CROMERR Does Not Apply To:
• Documents submitted by fax, magnetic media
such as floppy disks, or optical media such as
CDs.
• Submissions not under 40 CFR.
I report directly to EPA, what does CROMERR mean for me?
All EPA systems that were receiving electronic reports as of October 13, 2005, are designated as
acceptable to continue to receive those reports for a two-year period; and, you may continue to
follow existing procedures to submit reports to such systems until October 13, 2008, or until EPA
publishes a notice that announces changes to, or a migration from the systems.
Under CROMERR, electronic reporting directly to EPA requires submission through EPA's
Central Data Exchange (CDX), or to another system designated by EPA for the receipt of the
electronic report in question. If you follow the procedures established by CDX (or another
designated system) for document preparation, signature and submission, and your documents are
successfully received by CDX (or another designated system), your submission will comply with
CROMERR. Your submissions must include valid electronic signatures in those cases where
handwritten signatures would have been required for the paper-base submissions, and the electronic
signatures will have the same legal force as the handwritten signatures.
For which of my submissions can I use CDX?
Information on the submissions that CDX currently accepts can be found on the CDX Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/cdx/). Whenever CDX or another EPA-designated system is ready to accept
additional electronic submissions, EPA will publish an announcement in the Federal Register, and
will provide information of the procedures for electronic submission of the affected reports. For
submissions that CDX accepts, the CDX Web site will provide instructions concerning the format
required for data submission, registration procedures, and requirements for electronic signatures.
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What doesn't CROMERR do?
CROMERR is designed to facilitate electronic reporting under environmental programs. It does not
mandate that EPA institute electronic reporting or that regulated entities use electronic reporting for
reporting directly to EPA, but it also does not prohibit electronic reporting from being required by
other regulations. CROMERR also does not:
• Change any substantive reporting requirements that appear elsewhere in Title 40 of the
Code of Federal Regulations;
• Change any substantive reporting requirements under authorized state, tribe, or local
programs;
• Confer any right or privilege to submit data electronically;
• Require any EPA-authorized state, tribe, or local government program to accept electronic
documents;
• Affect the submission of any electronic document via magnetic or optical media (e.g.,
diskette, compact disk, or tape) or fax; and
• Impose any new or additional signature requirements than required in paper form.
For More Information
David Schwarz Evi Huffer
Senior Program Analyst Senior Program Analyst
Office of Environmental Information Office of Environmental Information
(202) 566-1704 (202) 566-1697
Schwarz.david@epa.gov Huffer.Evi@epa.gov
EPA's CROMERR Web site: http://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/cromerr
May 2007
Office of Environmental '^^
Information (2812A) WWW.epa.gOV/O6l
www.epa.gov/oei
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