II. PROCEDURES
II. PROCEDURES A. Filing Procedures 1. Commission Authorization Required 2. General Requirements 3. Forms 4. Approved Electronic Media 5. Format 6. Time and Place of Filing 7. Late Filing 8. Statewide Rule 1: Operators to Keep Records B. Authorization Procedures 1. Eligibility 2. Required Authorization Paperwork a. Master Electronic Filing Certification b. Contacts to be Identified c. Where to Send the MEFC and Contact List 3. Preliminary Test Required 4. Authorization
A. Filing Procedures 1. Commission Authorization Required Authorization to file reports using electronic media must be obtained before the Commission will accept reports filed electronically. See Authorization Procedures starting on page II-5 for a detailed description on the approval process. 2. General Requirements An operator who submits reports must comply with the laws of the State of Texas and all rules,regulations, and orders of the Railroad Commission of Texas which govern the filing of hard-copy reports. In particular, the Commission's Statewide Rules for oil, gas, and geothermal resource operations apply equally to automated data. Electronic filings must be submitted in a manner compatible with the Commission's software, equipment, and facilities. The Commission reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject any electronic filing deemed incompatible with its software, equipment, or facilities. The individual filing the reports electronically must comply with any reasonable request for information from the operator or its authorized agent deemed necessary by the Commission, in its sole discretion, in order to maintain the integrity of its filing system. 3. Forms A list of forms eligible for electronic filing are provided in the section describing the authorized Electronic Media starting on page III-1 for more details. Filing reports electronically is optional. Therefore, an operator who is approved for electronic filing may submit any required Commission reports in hard-copy form rather than through electronic filing. 4. Approved Electronic Media Approved electronic media and technical aspects of each can be found in the Electronic Media starting on page III-1. 5. Format Forms filed electronically must follow the formats as described in this manual. 6. Time and Place of Filing The place of performance for any approved electronic filing is Austin, Travis County, Texas. Under Commission rules all forms have established filing deadlines. The Commission must receive forms filed electronically earlier than the filing deadline. If the information is not received in the Austin office by the filing date, the reports are considered delinquent, and the assignment of allowables may be delayed. In the event the electronic media is lost or damaged en route to the Commission, the operator must provide a replacement. 7. Late Filing An operator who is unable to submit the required reports by the filing date should notify the Assistant Director of Production Allocation in Austin at (512)463-6837; or, if unable to submit H-10 reports by the filing deadline, notify the supervisor of Records Control, Underground Injection Control Section, in Austin at (512)463-6820. Forms filed electronically which repeatedly arrive late or in an unacceptable format, will only delay proper reporting of production and assignment of allowables. 8. Statewide Rule 1: Operators to Keep Records In accordance with the Commission's Statewide Rule 1, all operators, producers, refiners, and transporters are required to keep copies of records, forms, and documents submitted to the Commission for a period of three years, or longer if required by another Commission rule, from the filing date. Statewide Rules 9, 46, and 74 require that all monitoring records (Form H-10) shall be retained by the operator for at least five years. This requirement applies to automated data, and operators must be able to reproduce these records should the need arise for the Commission or its representatives to inspect them. B. Authorization Procedures 1. Eligibility As a result of limited staff and computer resources to process electronic media filings, the Commission, at times, may have to require that a minimum or a maximum number of records, depending on the electronic medium used, be sent on each operator's electronic submission. 2. Required Authorization Paperwork To receive authorization to file one or more forms electronically (see Preliminary Test Required below), an operator must properly fill out and mail to the Commission at least one Master Electronic Filing Certification(MEFC) and Contact Worksheet. The MEFC is used to satisfy signature requirements for the form or forms that an operator wishes to file electronically. The Contact Worksheet is used by the Commission to inform or send the operator EDI related information. This information may be used to contact the operator to work out any problems or questions the Commission may have with an electronic filing and to send status reports to the operator about information filed electronically. The operator will not be notified by the Commission when the MEFC and Contact Worksheet is received. If the operator is planning on filing through the Efile System, the operator's EFile account will be upgraded to allow for test uploads within seven business days. If the operator is planning on filing by magnetic cartridge tape or diskette, the Commission recommends that the operator include the MEFC and Contact Worksheet with the first test filing. a. Master Electronic Filing Certification The operator (if a sole proprietorship) or authorized representative of the operator must complete a Master Electronic Filing Certification (MEFC) with an original signature. A blank MEFC form is included with this manual and may be copied freely. By signing the MEFC, the operator or authorized agent understands, agrees, and certifies, under the penalties described in Section 91.143, Texas Natural Resources Code, that he or she is authorized to make this certification, that all reports filed pursuant to this certification shall be prepared in the regular course of business for the operator, and that all information filed shall be true, correct, and complete to the best of his or her knowledge. If no active MEFC is on file for the operator at the Commission, a signed MEFC must be submitted along with or prior to any preliminary test filings. The MEFC will be effective indefinitely, subject to compliance with its terms and the requirements of electronic filing. If the authorized agent signing the MEFC on behalf of the operator leaves the employment of the operator or becomes no longer authorized to sign reports, the operator must submit a new MEFC with a letter describing the change and designating a new authorized agent prior to the Commission's acceptance of any additional electronically filed report from the operator. An operator approved for electronic filing may cancel its MEFC, removing its authorization to file electronically, at any time by notifying the Commission in writing. All requirements for electronic filing and the MEFC shall be governed by Texas law. Only one MEFC is needed for the operator to file any form electronically. The operator can have more than one authorizing agent for electronically filed information. The operator can also have more than one authorizing agent for any form filed electronically. Each new MEFC filed with the Commission is assigned an agent number for the operator. This agent number will be detailed in the approval letter once the operator has been authorized to file electronically (see Preliminary Test Required below). The maximum number of agents the operator can have for all electronic filings is 9,999. For more information on using multiple agents, see Appendix A: Using Multiple Agents starting on page A-3. b. Contacts to be Identified An operator must provide the name and phone number of a central contact person for the company for each report that will be filed electronically. The contacts identified are tied to the agent on the MEFC. A worksheet for this information is provided in this manual and may be copied freely. No testing or processing of data sent to the Commission will be performed until a contact person for the operator is provided. The information below must be kept current. The operator must supply the following: Name, address, and telephone number of a central contact person for the form that will be submitted electronically. This person will receive status reports, error listings, etc. generated when the form is processed. This person should be able to route the aforementioned information sent by the Commission to the applicable personnel in the company. Name, address, and telephone number of a data processing representative (optional). This person will be sent updates to this publication and other technical information necessary for filing reports electronically with the Commission. If a data processing contact is not given, the information stated above will be sent to the central contact person. c. Where to Send the MEFC and Contact List The MEFC and contact list can be mailed to the address below: Railroad Commission of Texas Information Technology Services Division EDI Operations P.O. Box 12967 Austin, Texas 78711-2967 3. Preliminary Test Required Once the MEFC has been completed and contact persons identified, the operator must submit test information via the same electronic media that will be used to file approved reports. This information must: Be received in the Commission's Austin office at least one month in advance of the scheduled date the operator wishes to begin filing the report electronically. Contain actual data from the operator's records. For magnetic cartridge tape or diskette filings, the word TEST must be on the external label along with any other required label information. See the Electronic Media section starting on page III-1 for more details on the external label requirements. 4. Authorization If the test information and the electronic media it is filed on meets Commission specifications, the operator will be authorized to begin filing the approved reports electronically. This written authorization will acknowledge that the electronic media is in order, specify which reports the operator may file electronically, and provide the operator with an agent number. After the operator receives the authorization letter, the operator can start sending actual information for the form(s) that were approved electronically. An operator approved for electronic filing is also required to comply with any Commission adopted changes to this manual that may be made in the future.
