Welcome to the Interpretive Documents Collection

Welcome to the U.S. EPA's Interpretive Documents Collection. This Web site has been developed to provide a central point of access to non-binding general policy, guidance, and interpretive documents that describe how the Agency intends to exercise its discretionary authority and explains what a statute or regulation means.

This collection presently contains only non-binding guidance materials issued by EPA Headquarters offices and does not include materials released by EPA regional offices. The collection presently contains guidance documents issued since January 1, 1999. The collection may not include all guidance documents issued during this period. If EPA identifies additional guidance documents, EPA will add them to the collection.

The U.S. EPA is committed to ensuring that the guidance documents we produce are available to Regions, states, the regulated community, and the public for their information and use in decision making and to explain EPA's view of EPA's rules and statutes. These materials are integral to the implementation and enforcement of the Agency's regulatory programs and we hope their availability will assist you in understanding our regulations and statutory requirements. Subsequent to this initial release, the Agency plans to review and release active documents covering our regulatory programs including materials provided from EPA Regional Offices.

This collection has been developed to assist state and tribal officials, representatives of companies and organizations that must comply with environmental regulations, and individuals that are concerned with how environmental regulations and statutes are being implemented or enforced. The goal is that, through one central interface to a collection of guidance materials, it will be easier for an individual or institution to understand what guidance is available when complying with environmental regulations.