Resubmitting or correcting reports
- Compliance reports submitted through the DCFuel Application
- Transaction Error reports in EMTS
- Remedial Actions in EMTS
- Guidance for Remedial Actions for ABT Credits under the Benzene and Sulfur ABT credit trading programs
Compliance reports submitted through the DCFuel Application
After identifying the impacted report line for resubmission and making any necessary changes, follow these steps:
- Find the “Report Type” (typically field #2) on the form template and change the field value from “O” (for “original”) to “R” (for “resubmission”).
- Find the “Report Date” field (typically field #4) on the form template and update the report date to the date of resubmission
- Optional entry: If the form template has a comments field, enter any clarifying information for recordkeeping purposes.
- Upload the updated file into the DCFuel Application.
Transaction Error reports in EMTS
The EMTS Transaction Error Report is utilized to report discrepancies between the EMTS and your organization’s internal record-keeping system. Transaction errors can be reported following the end of the quarter. Once transaction errors are entered and submitted, EMTS will generate a Transaction Error Report for your organization.
If no errors are entered or reported errors are not submitted, EMTS will not generate a Transaction Error Report for your organization Note that transaction errors can be edited, and the Transaction Error Report for the prior quarter can be requested any number of times until the quarterly report submittal deadline. For instructions on initiating the Transaction Error Report, refer to the EMTS User Guide [https://www.epa.gov/fuels-registration-reporting-and-compliance-help/users-guide-epa-moderated-transaction-system-emts].
Additionally, users have the option to bulk upload transaction error reports using a spreadsheet template.
Remedial Actions in EMTS
Guidance for Remedial Actions for RINs under the Renewable Fuel Standard
Situation 1: Transfer of assigned RINs to incorrect party
Party A intends to transfer a volume of renewable fuel with assigned RINs to Party B. However, the volume of renewable fuel ends up with Party C, while the assigned RINs are transferred in the EPA Moderated Transaction System (EMTS) to Party B under the assumption that the fuel went to Party B.
Problem:
Regulations specify that "an assigned RIN cannot be transferred without simultaneously transferring a volume of renewable fuel to the same party" (see section 80.1428(a)(3)). Additionally, regulations state that "no person shall: transfer to any person a RIN with a K code of 1 without transferring an appropriate volume of renewable fuel to the same person on the same day" (see section 80.1460(b)(4)). Consequently, a transfer of assigned RINs without a volume of fuel constitutes a violation under EPA regulations, and Party B may not retain the assigned RINs. To mitigate the harm caused by this violation, the parties should undertake the following remedial actions.
Remedial Actions:
- Action can be taken without prior EPA approval, but parties must notify EPA of the remedial actions taken.
- Party B may transfer equivalent RINs back to Party A in EMTS and on a Product Transfer Document (PTD). The PTD must include the statement "Remedial Action - No volume of renewable fuel actually transferred" and the new transfer elements are:
- RIN D Code.
- RIN year.
- RIN assignment.
- Volume of renewable fuel transferred.
- RIN price.
- Transfer Date.
- PTD Number (if desired).
- Reason Code: Improper Trading Partner (30).
- In addition, Party A must submit a buy transaction (or confirmation) with the same RIN and transaction elements.
- Party A may sell appropriate RINs to Party C using a PTD that refers the original transfer of renewable fuel. Party A may transfer these RINs to Party C after or prior to receiving the RINs back from Party B.
- All parties must maintain documentation and records for this situation and remedial action, including but not limited to:
- The transactional information for the improper transaction.
- Remedial action buy/sell transactional information.
- Product Transfer Documents.
Notification to EPA:
- All parties must notify EPA at the EPA Fuels Programs Support Line of the actions taken to remediate the situation. The notification must include the following information:
- Company Name.
- EPA company ID.
- EMTS transaction ID number(s) for the original transaction.
- EMTS transaction ID number(s) for any remedial action.
- D code of the affected RINs.
- Number of affected RINs.
- RIN Year of the affected RINs.
- An explanation of how the violation occurred.
Situation 2: Transfer of assigned RINs with no transfer of renewable fuel
Party B accepts assigned RINs from Party A, but no renewable fuel is transferred to Party B.
Problem:
Regulations specify that "an assigned RIN cannot be transferred to another person without simultaneously transferring a volume of renewable fuel or RNG to that same person." (see 80.1428(a)(2)). Additionally, the regulations state, "Transfer to any person a RIN with a K code of 1 without transferring an appropriate volume of renewable fuel to the same person on the same day."(see 80.1460(b)(4)). Thus, a transfer of assigned RINs without a volume of fuel is a violation under EPA regulations, and Party B may not keep the assigned RINs. Therefore, a transfer of assigned RINs without a volume of fuel constitutes a violation under EPA regulations, and Party B may not retain the assigned RINs. To mitigate the harm caused by this violation, the parties should undertake the following remedial actions.
Remedial Actions:
- Action can be taken without prior EPA approval, but parties must notify EPA of the remedial actions taken.
- Party B may transfer equivalent RINs back to Party A in EMTS and on a Product Transfer Document.
- The RIN and transaction elements that must exactly match the original improper trade are:
- RIN D Code.
- RIN year.
- RIN assignment.
- Volume of renewable fuel transferred.
- RIN price.
- The PTD must include the statement “Remedial Action - No volume of renewable fuel actually transferred”, and the new transfer elements are:
- Transfer Date.
- PTD Number (if desired).
- Reason Code: Remedial Action Incorrect Trade (80).
- In addition, Party A must submit a buy transaction (or confirmation) with the same RIN and transaction elements.
- Party A may sell appropriate RINs to Party C using a PTD that refers the original transfer of renewable fuel. Party A may transfer these RINs to Party C after or prior to receiving the RINs back from Party B.
- All parties must maintain documentation and records for this situation and remedial action, including but not limited to:
- The transactional information for the improper transaction.
- Remedial action buy/sell transactional information.
- Product Transfer Documents.
Notification to EPA:
- All parties must notify EPA at the EPA Fuels Programs Support Line of the actions taken to remediate the situation. The notification must include the following information:
- Company Name.
- EPA company ID.
- EMTS transaction ID number(s) for the original transaction.
- EMTS transaction ID number(s) for any remedial action.
- D code of the affected RINs.
- Number of affected RINs.
- RIN Year of the affected RINs.
- An explanation of how the violation occurred.
Situation 3: Missed Separation
A party has a qualifying RIN separation event pursuant to 80.1429, but neglects to submit the separation information to EPA via EMTS within five business days of the separation event.
Problem:
Regulations outlined in section 80.1452(c) mandate that each time a party engages in a transaction involving RINs—whether buying, selling, separating, or retiring—they must submit the relevant information to the EPA via EMTS within five business days. Therefore, parties may not separate RINs in EMTS for any renewable fuel blended if separation information was not submitted to EPA via EMTS within five days of the qualifying separation event, as required. To mitigate the harm caused by this violation, the party should take the following remedial actions.
Remedial Actions:
- Action can be taken without prior EPA approval, but parties must notify EPA of remedial actions taken.
- The party may separate up to 2.5 RINs per gallon of renewable fuel the next time they have a valid separation event pursuant to 80.1429, provided the party submits the separation information to EMTS within five days of the separation event as required in 80.1452(c).
- All parties must maintain documentation and records related to this situation and remedial action, including but not limited to:
- Transactional information for the improper transaction.
- Product transfer documents.
- The party must notify EPA at the EPA Fuels Programs Support Line of actions taken to remediate the situation. The party must send the following information in the notification:
- Company Name.
- EPA company ID.
- The date of the original RIN separation event.
- The type of separation event and specific regulation covering the event per 80.1429.
- The D code of the RINs affected.
- The number of RINs affected.
- The RIN year of RINs affected.
- An explanation of how the violation occurred.
Situation 4: Under Generation
A party has generated a batch of RINs pursuant to 40 CFR 80.1426 but discovers within 10 business days of the RIN generation that they generated too few RINs.
Problem:
The regulations at 80.1426(f) require that the number of RINs must be calculated using specific equations and correct values. Therefore, the party did not appropriately generate RINs per 80.1426 due to incorrect calculation of the number of RINs that should be generated for a batch of renewable fuel. To mitigate the harm caused by this violation, the party should undertake the following remedial actions.
Remedial Actions:
- Action can be taken without prior EPA approval, but parties must notify EPA of remedial actions taken.
- The party may generate the appropriate number of RINs to make up the difference between the initial generation and the number of RINs that should have been generated. This remedial action does not allow parties to generate whole batches that were never generated.
- All RINs generated per this remedial action will have a Batch Number Text in EMTS that begins with "UND-" and ends with the original batch number.
- All parties must maintain documentation and records related to this situation and remedial action, including but not limited to:
- Transactional information for the improper transaction.
- Remedial action generation transactional information.
- Product transfer documents.
- The party must notify EPA at the EPA Fuels Programs Support Line of the actions taken to remediate the situation. The notification must include the following information:
- Company name.
- EPA company ID.
- Date of the original generation.
- EMTS Transaction ID of the original generation.
- D code of the affected RINs.
- Number of affected RINs.
- RIN Year of the affected RINs.
- EMTS Transaction Identification Number of the generation with RIN Batch Number "UND-".
- An explanation of how the violation occurred
Situation 5: Over-generation of RINs
A RIN generator produces too many RINS for a volume of fuel
- Broken meter,
- Temperature correction error, or
- Multiple RIN batch generation (different batch numbers, but two batch-RIN generations for one actual batch of renewable fuel).
Problem:
Pursuant to 80.1431(a)(1)(ii) and (ix), improperly generated RINs are invalid.
Remedial Actions:
Remedial actions may not be taken for this situation until EPA has been notified and has instructed the parties on what action to take.
The RIN generator must immediately contact the EPA Fuels Programs Support Line via e-mail (FuelsProgramSupport@epa.gov) with details of the improper generation. Remedial actions will be assessed by the EPA on a case-by-case basis. The RIN generator must not take action to remediate the situation until EPA has provided instructions, except that the RIN generator should not sell or transfer any of the RINs associated with the batch and should notify any purchasers or transferees that received the RINs prior to discovering the over-generation.
The RIN generator must include the following information in their communication:
- Company name.
- EPA company ID.
- Date the fuel was produced.
- Date RINs were generated.
- Number of RINs generated.
- Number of RINs invalidly generated.
- RIN year.
- D code of generated RINs.
- Batch numbers.
- Transaction ID(s).
- Applicable facility information, including but not limited to: Facility name, EPA assigned facility ID, and address.
- Status of the specific RINs, indicating whether they have been sold or remain in the generator's account.
- Available times for the generator to remediate the over-generation.
- Sections(s) of 40 CFR Part 80 subpart M that the RIN generator failed to comply with.
- An explanation of how the RIN generator failed to comply with the RFS regulations.
- Steps taken to prevent future occurrences of this violation.
Situation 6: Missed Generation of a RIN Batch
A party has produced or imported a batch of renewable fuel but fails to submit the RIN batch generation information to EPA via EMTS within five business days of the RIN assignment.
Problem:
The regulations at 80.1452(b) require that each time a party assigns RINs to a batch of renewable fuel they submit information to EPA via EMTS within five business days.
Remedial Actions:
Remedial actions may not be taken for this situation until EPA has been notified and has instructed the parties on what action to take.
The RIN generator must immediately contact the EPA Fuels Programs Support Line via e-mail (FuelsProgramSupport@epa.gov) with details of the missed generation. Remedial actions will be assessed by EPA on a case-by-case basis. The RIN generator must not take action to remediate the situation until EPA has provided instructions.
The renewable fuel producer or importer must include the following information:
- Company name.
- EPA company ID.
- Date the fuel was produced.
- Number of RINs that should have been generated.
- D code(s) of RINs that should have been generated.
- Quality Assurance Program (QAP) code of the RINs, indicating whether verified or unverified.
- Batch number(s).
- Applicable facility information, including but not limited to: Facility name, EPA assigned facility ID, and address.
- An explanation of how the RIN generator failed to comply with the RFS regulations.
- Steps taken to prevent future occurrences of this violation.
Guidance for Remedial Actions for ABT Credits under the Benzene and Sulfur ABT credit trading programs
Situation 1: Over-generated Credits
A fuel manufacturer generates more sulfur or benzene credits than allowed under 1090.725.
Problem:
The generated credits are invalid and cannot be used to show compliance.
Remedial Actions:
The gasoline manufacturer responsible for generating the credits (“credit generator”) must immediately contact EPA Fuels Program Support via e-mail to provide details regarding the over-generation of credits. If necessary, the manufacturer must resubmit compliance reports through CDX. Remedial actions will be assessed by the EPA on a case-by-case basis. The email to EPA Fuels Program Support should include the following information:
- EPA company ID.
- EPA facility ID.
- Correct total volume.
- Correct annual average concentration.
- Number of credits already generated in EMTS.
- Number of credits that were invalidly generated.
- Type of credits that were invalidly generated, specifying Sulfur or Benzene.
- Credit year of the credits that were invalidly generated.
- An explanation of how the over-generation of credits occurred.
- Status of the credits, indicating whether they have been sold or remain in the credit generator’s account.
- Confirmation that the revised compliance reports were resubmitted through EPA's Central Data Exchange.
- Steps taken to prevent future occurrences of this violation.
Situation 2: Under-generated Credits
A fuel manufacturer fails to generate sufficient sulfur or benzene credits using the specific equations and values outlined in section 1090.725.
Problem:
Sulfur and benzene credits must be accurately calculated using the prescribed equations and correct values. The fuel manufacturer responsible for generating these credits should undertake the following remedial actions.
Remedial Actions:
The fuel manufacturer must immediately contact EPA Fuels Program Support via email (FuelsProgramSupport@epa.gov) to provide details regarding the under-generation of credits. If necessary, the manufacturer must resubmit compliance reports through CDX. Remedial actions will be assessed by the EPA on a case-by-case basis. The email to EPA Fuels Program Support should include the following information:
- EPA company ID.
- EPA facility ID.
- Number of credits already generated in EMTS.
- Number of credits that were under-generated.
- Type of credits that were under-generated, specifying Sulfur or Benzene.
- EMTS Transaction ID associated with the initial generation.
- EMTS Generate Reason code used for the initial generation:
- Refine non-renewable fuel (10).
- Import non-renewable fuel (20).
- Remedial Action – Refiner Credits (30).
- Remedial Action – Importer Credits (40).
- Correct total volume.
- Correct annual average concentration.
- Credit year of the credits that were under-generated.
- An explanation of how the under-generation of credits occurred.
- Confirm that the revised compliance reports were resubmitted through CDX.
- Steps taken to prevent future occurrences of this violation.
Situation 3: Missed Credit Generation Reporting Deadline
A fuel manufacturer does not submit reports on generated credits by the compliance deadline as required by 1090.905.
Problem:
Fuel manufacturers are required to submit sulfur and benzene credit generation reports by March 31 for the preceding compliance period (e.g., reports covering the calendar year 2021 must be submitted to EPA by no later than March 31, 2022).
Remedial Actions:
The fuel manufacturer is required to immediately contact EPA Fuels Program Support via email (FuelsProgramSupport@epa.gov) to provide details regarding the missed generation of credits. If necessary, the manufacturer must also resubmit compliance reports through CDX. Remedial actions will be assessed by the EPA on a case-by-case basis. The email to EPA Fuels Program Support should include the following information:
- EPA company ID.
- EPA facility ID.
- Number of credits that should have been generated in EMTS.
- Specify whether credits should be generated as a Refiner or Importer.
- Correct total volume;
- Correct annual average concentration;
- Type of credit that should have been generated, specifying Sulfur or Benzene.
- Credit year of credits that should have been generated.
- An explanation of how the credit generation deadline was missed.
- Confirm that the revised compliance reports were resubmitted through CDX.
- Steps taken to prevent future occurrences of this violation.
Situation 4: Over-retired Credits
A fuel manufacturer retires more credits than required for compliance as specified in 1090.720(a).
Problem:
If a fuel manufacturer retired more credits than is required for compliance, the fuel manufacturer should take the following remedial actions.
Remedial Actions:
The fuel manufacturer is required to immediately contact EPA Fuels Program Support via email (FuelsProgramSupport@epa.gov) to provide details regarding the over-retirement of credits. If necessary, the manufacturer must also resubmit compliance reports through CDX. The EPA will evaluate remedial actions on a case-by-case basis. The email to EPA Fuels Program Support should include the following information:
- EPA company ID.
- Facility name and ID.
- Compliance period.
- Correct total volume.
- Correct annual average concentration.
- Number of credits already retired in EMTS.
- Number of credits that were over-retired.
- Type of credits that were over-retired, specifying Sulfur or Benzene.
- Credit year of the credits that were over-retired.
- Number of times the credits were traded.
- An explanation of how the over-retirement of credits occurred.
- Confirm that the revised compliance reports were resubmitted through CDX.
- Steps taken to prevent future occurrences of this violation.
Situation 5: Under-retirement of Credits
A fuel manufacturer retires fewer credits than required for compliance as provided in 1090.720(a).
Problem:
If a fuel manufacturer retired fewer credits than is required for compliance, the fuel manufacturer should take the following remedial actions.
Remedial Actions:
The fuel manufacturer is required to immediately contact EPA Fuels Program Support via e-mail (FuelsProgramSupport@epa.gov) with the details of the under-retirement and resubmit the compliance reports through CDX if necessary. Remedial actions will be assessed by EPA on a case-by-case basis. The e-mail to EPA Fuels Program Support should include the following details:
- Records indicating that the company owned sufficient credits to meet the requirements at the time of the retire deadline.
- EPA company ID.
- Facility name and ID.
- Compliance period.
- Correct total volume.
- Correct annual average concentration.
- Number of credits already retired in EMTS.
- Number of credits that were under-retired.
- Type of credits that were under-retired, specifying Sulfur or Benzene.
- Credit year of credits that were under-retired.
- Number of times the credits were traded.
- An explanation of how the under-retirement of credits occurred.
- Confirm that the revised compliance reports were resubmitted through CDX.
- Steps taken to prevent this violation from occurring again.
Situation 6: Missed Credit Retirement Deadline
A fuel manufacturer does not retire sulfur or benzene credits prior to the compliance deadline as required under 1090.720.
Problem:
Fuel manufacturers are required to retire properly generated sulfur and benzene credits for compliance by March 31 for the preceding compliance period (e.g., credits covering the 2021 compliance period must be submitted to EPA no later than March 31, 2022). If a fuel manufacturer has missed the compliance deadline for retiring credits, the fuel manufacturer should take the following remedial actions.
Remedial Actions:
The fuel manufacturer is required to immediately contact EPA Fuels Program Support via e-mail (FuelsProgramSupport@epa.gov) and provide details regarding the missed credit retirement. Additionally, if necessary, the manufacturer must resubmit the compliance reports through CDX. The EPA will assess remedial actions on a case-by-case basis. The email to EPA Fuels Program Support must include the following details:
- Records indicating that the company owned sufficient credits to meet the requirements at the time of the retire deadline.
- EPA company ID.
- Facility name and ID.
- Compliance period.
- Correct total volume.
- Correct annual average concentration.
- Number of credits that should have been retired.
- Type of credits that should have been retired, specifying Sulfur or Benzene.
- Credit year of the credits that should have been retired.
- Number of times the credits were traded.
- An explanation of how the credit retire deadline was missed.
- Confirm that the revised compliance reports were resubmitted through CDX.
- Steps taken to prevent this violation from occurring again.