Stakeholder Outreach

Compliance assistance stakeholders include everyone who provides or receives compliance assistance. Compliance assistance providers comprise a diverse group. Government regulators, including EPA and other federal agencies, and particularly the states, provide compliance assistance. Many trade associations provide compliance acceptance directly to their members. Universities and the consulting industry are a growing source of compliance assistance information. And increasingly, industries and small businesses are assisting one another with compliance issues through formal mentoring programs as well as through informal communications. Recipients of compliance assistance may include anyone (individual, facility, organization, etc.) subject to environmental statute or regulation.

Providing effective compliance assistance depends on understanding the issues and challenges facing the regulated community. EPA seeks input from stakeholders on these issues to improve the effectiveness of its compliance assistance efforts.

At the national level, compliance assistance stakeholders offer valuable input on EPA's programs and activities by

• Providing comments on proposed activities announced in the Federal Register
• Representing their organization or sector on the Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee (CAAC) of the National Advisory Council For Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT) . The Report June 2004 (PDF 288.4 KB, 71 pages) of the Second CAAC is now available.
• Participating in the national conferences for compliance assistance providers
• Supporting the Department of Labor Web site Compliance Assistance From Other Federal Agencies

EPA's 10 Regions also offer many opportunities for stakeholder involvement. Each region has a Compliance Assistance Coordinator who is responsible for coordinating planning and integration of EPA's compliance assistance activities with states, tribes, and other providers within their region.

For information on stakeholder outreach for specific compliance assistance tools or activities, consult specific projects and specific project contacts for planned and ongoing activities through the National Compliance Assistance Clearinghouse.