Reporting RFS RIN Transactions in the EPA Moderated Transaction System
Required Procedures for RFS Compliance Reporting
Submitters are required to use e-signature to sign the Copy of Record for EPA Moderated Transaction System (EMTS) transactions. This procedure eliminates the past practice of submitting separate RIN Generation and RIN Transaction reports.
For a Job Aid on this task, see: How to Use e-Signature to Sign RIN Transaction Reports in EMTS.
Parties who transact Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard must enter transaction information in the EPA Moderated Transaction System (EMTS) within five (5) business days.
IMPORTANT REMINDER
Regulated parties are urged to conduct due diligence investigations and exercise caution when conducting RIN transactions. Neither EPA nor its systems, including the EMTS, certify or validate RINs or make any provision for parties who, despite good faith, transfer or receive invalid RINs. As specified in the regulations at 40 CFR 80.1431 (b)(2), invalid RINs cannot be used to achieve compliance with the Renewable Volume Obligations of an obligated party or exporter, regardless of the party's good faith belief that the RINs were valid at the time they were acquired. Additionally, the regulations at 40 CFR 80.1460(b)(2) prohibit the creation or transfer to any person of a RIN that is invalid.
Follow these steps to report RIN transactions using EMTS:
Help Tools
- Managing RIN trades
- Generating RINs
- Separating RINs
- Retiring RINs
- Buying and selling RINs
- Advanced RIN selection
- Managing RIN holdings
- Managing the blocked list
- Locking RINs
- Managing the transaction bin and viewing web submissions
- Viewing QA results
- Managing document subscriptions
- Transaction Error Report in EMTS
Step 1: Review the following reference documents
- User's guide for EMTS
- List of reporting codes and fuel pathways used in EMTS
- Descriptions of documents available for download in EMTS
- Template for uploading multiple transaction errors in EMTS
Step 2: Submit transactions
There are two ways to submit transactions in EMTS:
- Web Interface
Most users login to the web interface and use the data entry screens to report transactions or submit XML files that contain multiple transactions. - Node
Some companies set up nodes to transmit and receive XML files directly to and from the EMTS system without using the web interface.
Reference the following documents for submitting XML files through the web interface or a node:
- Instructions for submitting transactions in EMTS using XML
- Template for converting MS Excel files to XML in EMTS
- Submission schema for RIN transactions in EMTS
- Data exchange template for EMTS
- Flow configuration document
- XML schema for retrieving documents available in EMTS through a node
- Best practices for EMTS industry nodes