Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024
(a)
Verification bodies, lead verifiers, and non-lead verifiers that will provide
verification services (including validation services) under this subarticle
must become accredited through fulfilling the accreditation requirements set
forth in MRR sections
95132(b) through
(e), with the exception of subsections
95132(b)(1)(G),
95132(b)(2),
95132(b)(3),
95132(b)(5), and
95132(e)(1).
MRR text is as referred to, except as otherwise
specifically provided:
(1) Wherever
"section 95102(a)" is
referenced, "section
95481" must be substituted.
Wherever "section
95132(b)(2) is
referenced, "section
95502(c)" must be
substituted. Wherever "section
95133" is referenced, "section
95503" must be
substituted.
(2) Whenever
"Performance Review" is referenced, the definition in 95481(a) of this
subarticle must be substituted.
(b) The Executive Officer may issue
accreditation to verification bodies, lead verifiers, and non-lead verifiers
that meet the requirements specified in this section.
(1)
Verification Body Accreditation
Application. In addition to the requirements specified in MRR section
95132(b)(1), the
applicant must submit the following to the Executive Officer:
(A) Documentation that the proposed
verification body has procedures and policies to support staff technical
training as it relates to validation or verification. This training must
include CARB's verifier training curriculum and be provided by a verification
body or verification body applicant to its employees and subcontractors that
participate on verification teams. Participation of individual verifiers,
including verifiers that are not acting as lead verifiers, must be
documented.
(B) The verification
body's templates for risk assessment, sampling, and log of issues for the
entity types and report types the verification body intends to verify, as
specified in section
95500.
(C) Verification body staffing changes are
considered an amendment to the verification body accreditation application and
therefore the Executive Officer must be notified of any such
changes.
(2)
Verifier Accreditation Application. To apply for accreditation
as a lead verifier, the applicant must submit documentation to the Executive
Officer that provides the evidence that the applicant meets the criteria in
sections 95502(c)(1)
though (6). To apply for accreditation as a non-lead verifier, the applicant
must submit documentation to the Executive Officer that provides the evidence
that the applicant meets the criteria in sections
95502(c)(1) through
(2).
(c)
Verifier Competency
Requirements. To perform LCFS verifications, verifiers must be
employed by, or contracted with, a verification body accredited by the
Executive Officer and submit evidence to demonstrate that competency
requirements are met.
(1) Verifiers must
provide evidence demonstrating the minimum educational background required to
act as a verifier for CARB. Minimum educational background means that the
applicant has either:
(A) A bachelor's level
college degree or equivalent in engineering, science, technology, business,
statistics, mathematics, environmental policy, economics, or financial
auditing; or
(B) Evidence
demonstrating the completion of significant and relevant work experience or
other personal development activities that have provided the applicant with the
communication, technical, and analytical skills necessary to conduct
verification.
(2)
Verifiers must provide evidence demonstrating sufficient workplace experience
to act as a verifier, including evidence that the applicant verifier has a
minimum of two years of full-time work experience in a professional role
involved in emissions data management, emissions technology, emissions
inventories, environmental auditing, financial auditing, life cycle analysis,
transportation fuel production, or other technical skills necessary to conduct
verification.
(3) To act as a lead
verifier, in addition to the qualifications in sections
95502(c)(1) and
(2), one of the following qualifications must
be met:
(A) The verifier must have
participated within the previous two years as part of the verification team in
at least three completed LCFS validations or verifications under the
supervision of a lead verifier accredited under this subarticle by the
Executive Officer;
(B) The verifier
must be accredited as a lead verifier under MRR or the Cap-and-Trade Regulation
by the Executive Officer;
(C) The
verifier must have experience acting as the lead on an attestation engagement
services team for the U.S. EPA Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program within the
previous two years or currently be acting as a team lead;
(D) The verifier must have experience acting
as the lead on a Quality Assurance Program (QAP) services team for the U.S. EPA
RFS program within the previous two years or currently be acting as a team
lead;
(E) The verifier must have
experience acting as a the lead on a biofuels certification audit within the
previous two years or currently be acting as a lead under one of the following
international certification systems: International Sustainability and Carbon
Certification (ISCC), Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), or
Bonsucro; or
(F) The verifier must
have worked as a project manager or lead person for no less than four years, of
which two may be graduate level work:
1. In
the development of greenhouse gas or other air emissions inventories;
or,
2. As a lead environmental data
or financial auditor.
(G)
Candidates meeting one of the lead verifier qualifications in sections
95502(c)(3)(A) through
(E) must complete training specific to the
LCFS program to become a lead verifier under this subarticle.
Candidates applying under section
95502(c)(3)(F)
for accreditation as a lead verifier under this subarticle must take the
CARB-approved comprehensive general verification training and examination in
addition to the training specific to the LCFS
program.
(4) To
become accredited as a lead verifier for validation of fuel pathway
applications (CI) or verification of Fuel Pathway Reports (CI) as specified in
section 95500(a) and
95500(b), in
addition to the qualifications in sections
95502(c)(1) through
(3), the verifier must have experience in
alternative fuel production technology and process engineering.
(5) To become and remain accredited as a lead
verifier for verification of Quarterly Fuel Transactions Reports submitted by
producers and importers of gasoline or diesel, Low-Complexity/Low-Energy-Use
Refinery Report, Crude Oil Quarterly and Annual Volume Reports, and Project
Reports as specified in section
95500, in addition to the
qualifications in sections
95502(c)(1) through
(3), the verifier must be accredited as an
oil and gas systems specialist pursuant to MRR section
95131(a)(2).
(6) Nothing in this section shall be
construed as preventing the Executive Officer from requesting additional
information or documentation from a verifier or affiliated verification body to
demonstrate that the verifier meets the competency requirements set forth here,
or from seeking additional information from other persons or entities regarding
the verifier's fitness for qualification.
1. New
section filed 1-4-2019; operative 1-4-2019 pursuant to Government Code section
11343.4(b)(3)
(Register 2019, No. 1).
Note: Authority cited: Sections
38510,
38530,
38560,
38560.5,
38571,
38580,
39600,
39601,
41510,
41511
and
43018,
Health and Safety Code; 42
U.S.C. section 7545; and Western Oil and Gas
Ass'n v. Orange County Air Pollution Control District, 14 Cal.3d 411, 121
Cal.Rptr. 249 (1975). Reference: Sections
38501,
38510,
39515,
39516,
38571,
38580,
39000,
39001,
39002,
39003,
39515,
39516,
41510,
41511
and
43000,
Health and Safety Code; Section
25000.5,
Public Resources Code; and Western Oil and Gas Ass'n v. Orange County Air
Pollution Control District, 14 Cal.3d 411, 121 Cal.Rptr. 249
(1975).
