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Terms Used to Describe the Standing of U.S. EPA Methods
Citation:
Holmes, B., J. Griggs, A. Mudambi, W. Adams, S. Aker, F. Barrow, S. Burket, M. Cottrill, C. Miller, S. Masters, B. Moody, Y. Qian, T. Strock, AND Minh-Thuy Nguyen. Terms Used to Describe the Standing of U.S. EPA Methods. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 601R23003, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) relies on methods for the analysis of samples for environmental contaminants for both regulatory and non-regulatory purposes. These methods are developed by EPA or adopted from external parties for Agency use. The purpose of the "Terms Used to Describe the Standing of U.S. EPA Methods" document is to compile terms (e.g., regulatory, promulgated, etc.) used by EPA to describe and designate the method standing, and promote a better understanding of these terms. Specifically, this document is intended for use by EPA personnel, states, regulated industry, laboratories and testing organizations, instrument vendors, and the public who want a better understanding of the meanings of terms used by EPA to describe the standing of its methods and how they are applied.
Description:
External parties do not have sufficient understanding regarding the various terms used by EPA for its methods -- e.g., promulgated, approved, regulatory, published and peer reviewed, put in the Federal Register, etc. This causes confusion when these parties try to determine which EPA methods to use when doing work that needs to be reported to EPA or other Federal agencies. The "Terms Used to Describe the Standing of U.S. EPA Methods" informational report promotes a better understanding of these terms.