e-Manifest OFFICE OF RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY | WWW.EPA.GOV/e-MANIFEST e-Manifest Launches Quarterly Bulletin EPA's e-Manifest program remains committed to robust and engaging communication with stakeholders. The purpose of this bulletin is to provide a quarterly digest of e -Manifest news, including newly released and upcoming functionality. This bulletin is designed to complement our monthly public webinars, e-Manifest website, and listserv. For more information about EPA's e-Manifest program, please visit our website: www.epa.aov/e-manifest.aov. INSIDE THIS ISSUE e-Manifest Launches 1 Quarterly Bulletin March 2021 e-Manifest 1 Advisory Board Reminder to Receiving 1 Facilities! EPA Responds to 2 Advisory Board New and Upcoming 2 e-Manifest Functionality Updates to our 3 e-Manifest Web Content Data Quality Corner 3 For More Information 3 xv EPA March 2021 e-Manifest Advisory Board Meeting On March 2-4, 2021, EPA will convene the e-Manifest Advisory Board for a virtual public meeting. The purpose of this March 2-4, 2021, e- Manifest Advisory Board public meeting is for the Board to advise EPA on its proposed e-Manifest. program priorities and e-Manifest system user fees for the FY2022/FY2023 cycle. Under the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act (e-Manifest Act) of 2012, EPA must collect user fees to offset the costs of developing and operating the e-Manifest system. In January 2018, EPA published regulations establishing the methodology which the Agency uses to set and collect user fees for the e- Manifest system. Under the final rule, EPA charges a fee to receiving facilities for each manifest submitted to EPA's e -Manifest system. User fees are tailored to the method used to submit manifests to EPA, e.g., different fees apply for electronic manifests than for paper manifests uploaded to the system. In addition, EPA is required to publish revised user fee schedules at two-year intervals. EPA highly encourages public participation and/or attendance in this meeting. For more details visit: https:// www.epa.gov/e-manifest/ hazardous-waste-electronic- manifest-system-advisorv- board-meeting-looking- ahead-setting-e. Reminder to Receiving Facilities! You can't mail paper manifests to EPA after June 30, 2021 In accordance with EPA regulations, beginning June 30, 2021, EPA will no longer accept paper manifests submitted through the mail. After this date, EPA will only accept paper manifests uploaded to EPA's e-Manifest system via an image file or a data plus image file. In addition, EPA continues to encourage the adoption of electronic manifests. EPA urges all receiving facilities to begin preparing now for the June 30th deadline to avoid any compliance issues after this date. The sooner receiving facilities transition from mailing paper manifests to one of the other three manifest submission options including a scanned image upload, a data + image upload, or an electronic manifest (fully electronic and hybrid manifest) the more cost savings you'll enjoy from the reduced user fees associated with those options. For more information about the user fees, please visit: https:// www.epa.gov/e-manifest/e- manifest-user-fees-and- pavment-information. ------- e-Manifest Quarterly Bulletin - Winter Edition Page 2 EPA Responds to e-Manifest Advisory Board; Implements New Quick Sign Feature In October 2020, EPA published its official response to the e-Manifest Advisory Board recommendations following the April 14-16, 2020, virtual public Advisory Board meeting. The objective of this public meeting was for EPA to seek the Board's advice about "Reengineering Electronic Signatures for Generators and Transporters to Increase Adoption of Electronic Manifests." During the meeting EPA specifically asked for the Board's feedback on a proposed interpretation to apply Cross- media Electronic Reporting Rule (CROMERR) requirements only to receiving facilities submitting the final signed manifest to EPA. Additionally, EPA proposed three methods for reengineering electronic signatures for generators and transporters. In its response to the Advisory Board recommendations, EPA finalized its interpretation with respect to CROMERR applicability and chose to implement 'Method Two," which consists of a new "Quick Sign" feature for generators and transporters. In early December 2020, EPA launched the new "Quick Sign" feature for generators and transporters signing electronic manifests. This feature allows generators and transporters to skip previously required steps to sign manifests, namely having to re-enter login information and provide a challenge question. The "Quick Sign" feature is also available for receiving facilities initially signing manifests to acknowledge receipt of shipments. For more information about the new "Quick Sign" functionality please click the following link to: View the recording to access a recording of the December 3, 2020, e-Manifest webinar. v>EPA New and Upcoming e-Manifest Functionality In addition to the aforementioned Quick Sign functionality, EPA recently released a new billing service which enables receiving facilities to download their invoices and invoice history into their company's system. In January 2020, EPA released "Bulk Signatures 2.0." Bulk Signatures 2.0 allows users to sign up to 500 manifests at one time. The EPA e-Manifest team is also developing the ability to automate deletion of credits and debits for billing purposes as well as changes in who is invoiced for a manifest in the event of errors in the uploads of those manifests. The e-Manifest system will also begin integrating with the EPA's main financial system to automate certain backend tasks and reports. In addition, EPA plans to deploy a new manifest tracking number (MTN) validation method, which will allow the e- Manifest system to more easily check paper manifest tracking numbers using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to ensure the correct manifest tracking number was entered on the manifest. To date, EPA has corrected over 2,000 manifest tracking numbers; the MTN validation method will make it easier to find and correct manifest tracking number errors. The MTN Validation functionality will be launched in the following sequence within: 1) EPA internal reports, 2) the e-Manifest Paper Processing Center, 3) the e-Manifest Module in the RCRAInfo Industry Application, and 4) EPA's Application Programming Interface (API) with industry systems. ------- e-Manifest Quarterly Bulletin - Winter Edition Updated e-Manifest Web Content, FAQs, and Fact Sheets EPA has updated its e- Manifest web content, including the e-Manifest Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and Stakeholder Fact Sheets to reflect the new "Quick Sign" functionality and upcoming mailed paper manifest submission phaseout. (Tip: if you're looking for assistance on a specific topic, searching the e- Manifest FAQs for keywords is a great place to start.) Note to states and others: if you have tailored a previous version of an e-Manifest Fact Sheet for your own purposes, please update according to the new December 2020 versions on our website. The updated materials can be found at: https:// www.epa.aov/e-manifest: FAQs: https://www.epa.aov/e- manifest/frequent-questions- about-e-manifest Fact Sheets: https://www.epa.gov/e- manifest/fact-sheets-e- manifest-stakeholders If you have any questions, email Graham.David@epa.gov Data Quality Corner: Register Now! Not only does registering online in RCRAInfo satisfy the manifest recordkeeping requirements for generators, it also allows you to correct manifests and ensure that data associated with your facility remains accurate and up to date. If manifests do not appear in your dashboard within 30 days of receipt at the designated receiving facility, contact your receiving facility. Register today at https://rcrainfo.epa.gov and request Site Manager permissions to get started. A friendly reminder from EPA's e-Manifest team: your sites' EPA ID is usually a unique alpha numeric combination of 12 digits starting with a state postal code, e.g., TXD123456789. You can find your site ID and details under the My Sites tab at https://rcrainfo.epa.gov. If you do not have an account in RCRAInfo or do not work for the handler, of the EPA ID you're looking for, you may search for EPA IDs individually at https://rcrapublic.epa.gov/ For More Information For information on how to register for e-Manifest and to view frequently asked questions on e-Manifest, go to: http://www.epa.gov/e- manifest To subscribe to the general program Listserv, send a blank message to: eManifest subscribe@lists.epa.gov. Attend e-Manifest monthly webinars; typically occurring at 2 PM EST, the last Wednesday of every month. ------- |