Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Renewable Fuel Standard ...

also register before ownership of any RINs is assumed. The registration requirements are
the same as those for other parties discussed previously in Sections IV.B.1 and IV.C.1
above, and require the registrant to provide very basic information about the company, its
facility or facilities, and a contact person. The registration is on very simple forms
provided by EPA. A variety of parties may own RINs including (but certainly not limited
to) marketers, blenders, terminal operators, and jobbers. (As is mentioned in the previous
two sections, obligated parties and renewable producers may also own RINs but have
other reporting responsibilities, as well.)
It is possible to own RINs separately from batches of renewable fuel. For
example, a broker might be expected to own RINs in this fashion. Any party who is not
currently registered with us and who intends to own RINs would have to submit a simple
registration form, as described above. We anticipate about 1,500 new registrants as a
result of this proposed registration requirement, although an exact estimation of the
number of parties that will constitute this group is difficult to make. As with the other
parties described in this Section, we will issue a 4-digit company identification number
and, for each facility registered, a 5-digit facility identification number. If a party
becomes subject to this proposed regulation after the effective date, then we propose that
they must register with us and receive their EPA-issued company and facility
identification numbers prior to owning any RINs.
2. Reporting
Parties who own RINs would be required to submit two types of annual reports by
February 28, representing activity in the previous calendar year. The first report would
document RIN transactions. This report is akin to the credit trading reports submitted by
refiners and importers under other fuels programs in 40 CFR Part 80 and is the same as
the second report described for obligated parties in some detail in Section IV.B.2 above.
The second type of report would summarize RIN activities for the previous year,
including the total number of RINs owned, transferred, and expired. This report would
not include details of every RIN owned or used, since this information would be included
in the transactional report. Instead, this report would simply summarize the total number
of RINs falling into different categories.
All reports would have to be signed and certified as true and correct by a
responsible corporate officer. This can be done electronically. As discussed above, we
plan to utilize a highly simplified electronic method of reporting via the Agency’s Central
Data.
As discussed above, we are seeking comments on the frequency of reporting,
especially with regard to RIN transactions. We are proposing annual reporting, but are
seeking comments on whether reporting should be quarterly.
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