Who this article is for: All users.

Regulatory monitoring data — whether collected by the Industrial User as part of their self-monitoring obligations or by the Control Authority during a compliance sampling event — must be formally certified before it becomes part of the compliance record. This certification is an electronic signature equivalent to the federal certification statement required under 40 CFR 403.12(l), affirming under penalty of law that the data is accurate and complete.

Once certified, a report is locked. If errors are discovered after certification — a transcription mistake, a misidentified sample point, a lab report correction — the report can be retracted to allow corrections while preserving the original certified record for audit purposes. The corrected data is then recertified and resubmitted.

When all sampling results, calculated results, and flow data for a reporting period have been entered and reviewed, the report is ready for certification.

Confirm that the report is complete:

If required attachments are missing, SwiftComply will flag them during submission. You can still proceed, but the missing documents will need to be provided separately.

Click Sign and Submit to open the certification modal.

The certification statement mirrors the standard federal language: the signer affirms under penalty of law that the submitted information is true, accurate, and complete. This is the electronic equivalent of a wet signature on a Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) or self-monitoring report.

For Authority Sample Reports (ASRs) — reports from compliance sampling conducted by Control Authority staff — the certifying official enters their name. The date and time are recorded automatically.

For Self-Monitoring Reports (SMRs) — reports submitted by the Industrial User to fulfill their permit monitoring requirements — both the IU representative and the authority reviewer must be identified. The IU representative's certification date and time can be set to reflect when the IU representative actually signed, which may differ from the date the report is entered into the system.

Once certified, the report is locked and becomes part of the official compliance record. No further edits can be made without a formal retraction.

Retraction is the formal process for pulling back a certified report so corrections can be made. Common reasons include:

Any user with access to the report — whether Control Authority staff or IU representative — can initiate a retraction.

When you retract a report, SwiftComply:

By default, all data from the original submission — sampling events, calculated results, flow data, and attachments — is copied into the new version. This means you only need to fix the specific values that require correction, rather than re-entering everything.

If the data needs to be re-entered from scratch (for example, if the report was submitted against the wrong reporting period entirely), uncheck "Copy existing report" during retraction to start with a blank report.

The retraction is also a certified action. For ASRs, the person retracting enters their name and the date/time is recorded automatically. For SMRs, both the authority contact and the IU submitter are identified, and the retraction date and time can be adjusted to reflect when the retraction decision was actually made.

After retraction, the report is back in an editable state. Make the necessary corrections — update results, replace attachments, fix calculated values — and then click Resubmit Report to recertify.

The recertification follows the same process as the original submission: the signer affirms the corrected data under the same federal certification language. There is no limit to the number of times a report can be retracted and resubmitted.

Every submission and retraction is preserved. The Retracted Submissions section at the bottom of the report page shows the complete history: what was originally reported, when it was retracted, and by whom. This history is read-only and provides the documentation trail that regulators and auditors expect — demonstrating that corrections were handled through a formal, traceable process rather than by silently overwriting data.

Once a report is certified and submitted, the report status changes to Submitted and all data fields become read-only. The Sign and Submit button is replaced by Retract Report and Archive options.

Sampling Results database — Submitted sample results are immediately available in the Sampling Results database. Navigate to Sampling Results in the left sidebar to query and filter results across all Industrial Users, outfalls, and time periods. This is the central location for reviewing historical sampling data across your program.

Activity tab — The Activity tab on the sample report records all events with timestamps, including report creation, data entry, submission (with signature name and date/time), retraction, and resubmission.

Archive — Click Archive on a submitted report to hide it from default views. Archived reports remain accessible and can be unarchived. Archiving is only available for submitted reports.

Print — Use the print button in the report header to generate a printable version of the report.

Q: Who can retract a certified report?
A: Any user with access to the report can retract it, including both Control Authority staff and IU representatives.

Q: Is the original data lost when a report is retracted?
A: No. The original certified submission is preserved as a read-only record in the Retracted Submissions section. It is never deleted or overwritten.

Q: Can I submit a report without attaching the lab report or chain of custody?
A: Yes. SwiftComply will warn you about missing attachments, but allows you to proceed. Keep in mind that your permit or local sewer use ordinance may require these documents to be submitted with monitoring data.

Q: When should I uncheck "Copy existing report" during retraction?
A: In most cases, leave it checked — it copies all data into the new version so you only need to fix specific values. Uncheck it only if the report needs to be completely re-entered, such as when monitoring data was entered against the wrong reporting period.

Q: How does the certification statement relate to DMR requirements?
A: The electronic certification in SwiftComply is the equivalent of the signature block on a paper Discharge Monitoring Report. It satisfies the same regulatory requirement under 40 CFR 403.12(l) for the responsible official or authorized representative to certify the accuracy and completeness of the reported data.