(a) A RIN must be retired in any of the following cases:

(1) Demonstrate annual compliance. Except as specified in paragraph (b) of this section or §80.1456, each party that is an obligated party under §80.1406 and is obligated to meet the RVO under §80.1407 must retire a sufficient number of RINs to demonstrate compliance with an applicable RVO.

(2) Exported renewable fuel. Any exporter of renewable fuel that incurs an ERVO as described in §80.1430(a) shall retire RINs pursuant to §§80.1430(b) through (g) and 80.1427(c).

(3) Volume error correction. A RIN must be retired when it was based on incorrect volumes or volumes that have not been standardized to 60 °F as described in §80.1426(f)(8).

(4) Import volume correction. Where the port of entry volume is the lesser of the two volumes in §80.1466(e)(1)(i), the importer shall calculate the difference between the number of RINs originally assigned by the foreign producer and the number of RINs calculated under §80.1426 for the volume of renewable fuel as measured at the port of entry, and retire that amount of RINs in accordance with §80.1466(k)(4).

(5) Spillage or disposal of renewable fuels. Except as provided in §80.1432(c), in the event that a reported spillage or disposal of any volume of renewable fuel, the owner of the renewable fuel must notify any holder or holders of the attached RINs and retire a number of gallon-RINs corresponding to the volume of spilled or disposed of renewable fuel multiplied by its equivalence value in accordance with §80.1432(b).

(6) Contaminated or spoiled fuel. In the event that contamination or spoliation of any volume of renewable fuel is reported, the owner of the renewable fuel must notify any holder or holders of the attached RINs and retire a number of gallon-RINs corresponding to the volume of contaminated or spoiled renewable fuel multiplied by its equivalence value.

(i) If the equivalence value for the contaminated or spoiled volume may be determined pursuant to §80.1415 based on its composition, then the appropriate equivalence value shall be used.

(ii) If the equivalence value for a contaminated or spoiled volume of renewable fuel cannot be determined, the equivalence value shall be 1.0.

(iii) If the owner of a volume of renewable fuel that is contaminated or spoiled and reported establishes that no RINs were generated to represent the volume, then no gallon-RINs shall be retired.

(7) Delayed RIN generation. In the event that a party generated a delayed RIN as described in §80.1426(g)(1) through (4), parties must retire RINs as described in accordance with §80.1426(g)(5) and (6).

(8) Invalid RIN. In the case that a RIN is invalid as described in §80.1431(a), the RIN will be considered invalid and must be retired as described in §80.1431(b).

(9) Potentially invalid RINs. In the case that a RIN is identified as a PIR under §80.1474(b)(1), the PIRs or replacement RINs must be retired as described in §80.1474(b)(2) through (5).

(10) Replacement. As required by §80.1431(b) or §80.1474, any party that must replace an invalid RIN or PIR that was used for compliance must retire valid RINs to replace the invalid RINs originally used for any RVO.

(11) Other. Any other instance identified by EPA.

(b) In the case that retirement of a RIN is necessary, the following provisions apply:

(1) Any party affected by such retirement must keep copies and adjust its records, reports, and compliance calculations in which the retired RIN was used.

(2) The retired RIN must be reported in the applicable reports under §80.1451.

(3) The retired RIN must be reported in the EPA Moderated Transaction System pursuant to §80.1452(c).

(4) Where the importer of renewable fuel is required to retire RINs under paragraph (a)(5) of this section, the importer must report the retired RINs in the applicable reports under §§80.1451, 80.1466(k), and 80.1466(m).

[85 FR 7076, Feb. 6, 2020]