(a)(1) If a facility receives hazardous waste accompanied by a manifest, the owner, operator or his/her agent must sign and date the manifest as indicated in paragraph (a)(2) of this section to certify that the hazardous waste covered by the manifest was received, that the hazardous waste was received except as noted in the discrepancy space of the manifest, or that the hazardous waste was rejected as noted in the manifest discrepancy space.

(2) If the facility receives a hazardous waste shipment accompanied by a manifest, the owner, operator, or his agent must:

(i) Sign and date, by hand, each copy of the manifest;

(ii) Note any discrepancies (as defined in § 264.72(a)) on each copy of the manifest;

(iii) Immediately give the transporter at least one copy of the manifest;

(iv) [Reserved]

(v) Paper manifest submission requirements are:

(A) [Reserved]

(B) Options for compliance on June 30, 2021. Send to the EPA e-Manifest system an image file of the top copy (Page 1) of the manifest and any continuation sheet, or send to the EPA e-Manifest system both a data file and the image file corresponding to Page 1 of the manifest and any continuation sheet, within 30 days of the date; of delivery; and

(vi) Retain at the facility a copy of each manifest for at least three years from the date of delivery.

(3) The owner or operator of a facility receiving hazardous waste subject to 40 CFR part 262, subpart H from a foreign source must:

(i) Additionally, list the relevant waste stream consent number from consent documentation supplied by EPA to the facility for each waste listed on the manifest in the International Shipments block on the Continuation Sheet (EPA Form 8700-22A), matched to the relevant list number for the waste from block 9b. If additional space is needed, the owner or operator should use an additional Continuation Sheet(s) (EPA Form 8700-22A); and

(ii) Send a copy of the manifest within thirty (30) days of delivery to the EPA e-Manifest system per paragraph (a)(2)(v) of this section.

(b) If a facility receives, from a rail or water (bulk shipment) transporter, hazardous waste which is accompanied by a shipping paper containing all the information required on the manifest (excluding the EPA identification numbers, generator's certification, and signatures), the owner or operator, or his agent, must:

(1) Sign and date each copy of the manifest or shipping paper (if the manifest has not been received) to certify that the hazardous waste covered by the manifest or shipping paper was received;

(2) Note any significant discrepancies (as defined in § 264.72(a)) in the manifest or shipping paper (if the manifest has not been received) on each copy of the manifest or shipping paper.

(3) Immediately give the rail or water (bulk shipment) transporter at least one copy of the manifest or shipping paper (if the manifest has not been received);

(4) Within 30 days of delivery, send a copy (Page 1) of the signed and dated manifest to the EPA e-Manifest system; and

(5) Retain at the facility a copy of the manifest and shipping paper (if signed in lieu of the manifest at the time of delivery) for at least three years from the date of delivery.

(c) Whenever a shipment of hazardous waste is initiated from a facility, the owner or operator of that facility must comply with the requirements of part 262 of this chapter. The provisions of §§ 262.15, 262.16, and 262.17 of this chapter are applicable to the on-site accumulation of hazardous wastes by generators. Therefore, the provisions of §§ 262.15, 262.16, and 262.17 of this chapter only apply to owners or operators who are shipping hazardous waste which they generated at that facility or operating as a large quantity generator consolidating hazardous waste from very small quantity generators under § 262.17(f).

(d) International movement documents. As per 40 CFR 262.84(d)(2)(xv), within three (3) working days of the receipt of a shipment subject to 40 CFR part 262, subpart H, the owner or operator of a facility must provide a copy of the movement document bearing all required signatures to the foreign exporter and to the competent authorities of the countries of export and transit that control the shipment as an export and transit of hazardous waste respectively. For shipments received on or after the electronic import-export reporting compliance date, the receiving facility must close out the movement document to confirm receipt within three working days of shipment delivery using EPA's Waste Import Export Tracking System (WIETS), or its successor system. For shipments sent from a country with which EPA has established an electronic exchange of movement document tracking data, the receiving facility may use WIETS or its successor system to send movement document confirmation data back through the electronic exchange to the foreign exporter and the country of export. The original copy of the movement document must be maintained at the facility for at least three (3) years from the date of signature. The owner or operator of a facility may satisfy this recordkeeping requirement by retaining electronically submitted documents in the facility's account on WIETS, or its successor system, provided that copies are readily available for viewing and production if requested by any EPA or authorized State inspector. No owner or operator of a facility may be held liable for the inability to produce the documents for inspection under this section if the owner or operator of a facility can demonstrate that the inability to produce the document is due exclusively to technical difficulty with WIETS, or its successor system, for which the owner or operator of a facility bears no responsibility.

(e) A facility must determine whether the consignment state for a shipment regulates any additional wastes (beyond those regulated Federally) as hazardous wastes under its state hazardous waste program. Facilities must also determine whether the consignment state or generator state requires the facility to submit any copies of the manifest to these states.

(f) Legal equivalence to paper manifests. Electronic manifests that are obtained, completed, and transmitted in accordance with § 262.20(a)(3) of this chapter, and used in accordance with this section in lieu of the paper manifest form are the legal equivalent of paper manifest forms bearing handwritten signatures, and satisfy for all purposes any requirement in these regulations to obtain, complete, sign, provide, use, or retain a manifest.

(1) Any requirement in these regulations for the owner or operator of a facility to sign a manifest or manifest certification by hand, or to obtain a handwritten signature, is satisfied by signing with or obtaining a valid and enforceable electronic signature within the meaning of 40 CFR 262.25.

(2) Any requirement in these regulations to give, provide, send, forward, or to return to another person a copy of the manifest is satisfied when a copy of an electronic manifest is transmitted to the other person.

(3) Any requirement in these regulations for a manifest to accompany a hazardous waste shipment is satisfied when a copy of an electronic manifest is accessible during transportation and forwarded to the person or persons who are scheduled to receive delivery of the waste shipment.

(4) Any requirement in these regulations for an owner or operator to keep or retain a copy of each manifest is satisfied by the retention of the facility's electronic manifest copies in its account on the e-Manifest system, provided that such copies are readily available for viewing and production if requested by any EPA or authorized state inspector.

(5) No owner or operator may be held liable for the inability to produce an electronic manifest for inspection under this section if the owner or operator can demonstrate that the inability to produce the electronic manifest is due exclusively to a technical difficulty with the electronic manifest system for which the owner or operator bears no responsibility.

(g) An owner or operator may participate in the electronic manifest system either by accessing the electronic manifest system from the owner's or operator's electronic equipment, or by accessing the electronic manifest system from portable equipment brought to the owner's or operator's site by the transporter who delivers the waste shipment to the facility.

(h) Special procedures applicable to replacement manifests. If a facility receives hazardous waste that is accompanied by a paper replacement manifest for a manifest that was originated electronically, the following procedures apply to the delivery of the hazardous waste by the final transporter:

(1) Upon delivery of the hazardous waste to the designated facility, the owner or operator must sign and date each copy of the paper replacement manifest by hand in Item 20 (Designated Facility Certification of Receipt) and note any discrepancies in Item 18 (Discrepancy Indication Space) of the paper replacement manifest,

(2) The owner or operator of the facility must give back to the final transporter one copy of the paper replacement manifest,

(3) Within 30 days of delivery of the waste to the designated facility, the owner or operator of the facility must send one signed and dated copy of the paper replacement manifest to the generator, and send an additional signed and dated copy of the paper replacement manifest to the electronic manifest system, and

(4) The owner or operator of the facility must retain at the facility one copy of the paper replacement manifest for at least three years from the date of delivery.

(i) Special procedures applicable to electronic signature methods undergoing tests. If an owner or operator using an electronic manifest signs this manifest electronically using an electronic signature method which is undergoing pilot or demonstration tests aimed at demonstrating the practicality or legal dependability of the signature method, then the owner or operator shall also sign with an ink signature the facility's certification of receipt or discrepancies on the printed copy of the manifest provided by the transporter. Upon executing its ink signature on this printed copy, the owner or operator shall retain this original copy among its records for at least 3 years from the date of delivery of the waste.

(j) Imposition of user fee for manifest submissions. (1) As prescribed in § 264.1311, and determined in § 264.1312, an owner or operator who is a user of the electronic manifest system shall be assessed a user fee by EPA for the submission and processing of each electronic and paper manifest. EPA shall update the schedule of user fees and publish them to the user community, as provided in § 264.1313.

(2) An owner or operator subject to user fees under this section shall make user fee payments in accordance with the requirements of § 264.1314, subject to the informal fee dispute resolution process of § 264.1316, and subject to the sanctions for delinquent payments under § 264.1315.

(k) Electronic manifest signatures. Electronic manifest signatures shall meet the criteria described in § 262.25 of this chapter.

(l) Post-receipt manifest data corrections. After facilities have certified that the manifest is complete, by signing it at the time of submission to the EPA e-Manifest system, any post-receipt data corrections may be submitted at any time by any interested person (e.g., waste handler) named on the manifest. If corrections are requested by the Director for portions of the manifest that a designated facility is required to complete, the facility must make the data correction within 30 days from the date of the request.

(1) Interested persons must make all corrections to manifest data by electronic submission, either by directly entering corrected data to the web based service provided in e-Manifest for such corrections, or by an upload of a data file containing data corrections relating to one or more previously submitted manifests.

(2) Each correction submission must include the following information:

(i) The Manifest Tracking Number and date of receipt by the facility of the original manifest(s) for which data are being corrected;

(ii) The item number(s) of the original manifest that is the subject of the submitted correction(s); and

(iii) For each item number with corrected data, the data previously entered and the corresponding data as corrected by the correction submission.

(3) Each correction submission shall include a statement that the person submitting the corrections certifies that to the best of his or her knowledge or belief, the corrections that are included in the submission will cause the information reported about the previously received hazardous wastes to be true, accurate, and complete:

(i) The certification statement must be executed with a valid electronic signature; and

(ii) A batch upload of data corrections may be submitted under one certification statement.

(4) Upon receipt by the system of any correction submission, other interested persons shown on the manifest will be provided electronic notice of the submitter's corrections.

(5) Other interested persons shown on the manifest may respond to the submitter's corrections with comments to the submitter, or by submitting another correction to the system, certified by the respondent as specified in paragraph (l)(3) of this section, and with notice of the corrections to other interested persons shown on the manifest.