(a) The following parties must arrange for attestation engagement using agreed-upon procedures as specified in this subpart:

(1) A gasoline manufacturer that produces or imports gasoline subject to the requirements of subpart C of this part.

(2) A gasoline manufacturer that performs testing as specified in subpart N of this part or that relies on testing from a third-party laboratory.

(b) An auditor performing attestation engagements must meet the following requirements:

(1) The auditor must meet one of the following professional qualifications:

(i) The auditor may be an internal auditor that is employed by the fuel manufacturer and certified by the Institute of Internal Auditors. Such an auditor must perform the attestation engagement in accordance with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (Standards) (incorporated by reference in § 1090.95).

(ii) The auditor may be a certified public accountant, or firm of such accountants, that is independent of the gasoline manufacturer. Such an auditor must comply with the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, including its independence requirements, the AICPA Statements on Quality Control Standards (SQCS) No. 8, A Firm's System of Quality Control (both incorporated by reference in § 1090.95), and applicable rules of state boards of public accountancy. Such an auditor must also perform the attestation engagement in accordance with the AICPA Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 18, Attestation Standards: Clarification and Recodification, especially as noted in sections AT-C 105, 215, and 315 (incorporated by reference in § 1090.95).

(2) The auditor must meet the independence requirements in § 1090.55.

(3) The auditor must be registered with EPA under subpart I of this part.

(4) Any auditor suspended or debarred under 2 CFR part 1532 or 48 CFR part 9, subpart 9.4, is not qualified to perform attestation engagements under this subpart.

(c) An auditor must perform attestation engagements separately for each gasoline manufacturing facility for which the gasoline manufacturer submitted reports to EPA under subpart J of this part for the compliance period.

(d) The following provisions apply to each attestation engagement performed under this subpart:

(1) The auditor must prepare a report identifying the applicable procedures specified in this subpart along with the auditor's corresponding findings for each procedure. The auditor must submit the report electronically to EPA by June 1 of the year following the compliance period.

(2) The auditor must identify any instances where compared values do not agree or where specified values do not meet applicable requirements under this part.

(3) Laboratory analysis refers to the original test result for each analysis of a product's properties. The following provisions apply in special cases:

(i) For a laboratory using test methods that must be correlated to the standard test method, the laboratory analysis must include the correlation factors along with the corresponding test results.

(ii) For a gasoline manufacturer that relies on a third-party laboratory for testing, the laboratory analysis consists of the results provided by the third-party laboratory.