Sec. 601.22. Signature of forms

(a) Except as provided below in subdivision (b) of this section, all water withdrawal permit applications, registrations and reports required under this Part shall be signed as follows:

(1) For a corporation. By a responsible corporate officer. For the purpose of this subpart, a responsible corporate officer means:

(i) a president, secretary, treasurer, or vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy making or decision making functions for the corporation; or

(ii) the manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operating facilities, provided, the manager is authorized to make management decisions which govern the operation of the regulated facility including having the explicit or implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations, and initiating and directing other comprehensive measures to assure long term environmental compliance with environmental laws and regulations; the manager can ensure that the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information for permit application requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.

(2) For a partnership or sole proprietorship. By a general partner or the proprietor, respectively.

(3) For a municipality, State, Federal, or other public agency. By either a principal executive officer or ranking elected official. For purposes of this section, a principal executive officer of a Federal agency includes:

(i) the chief executive officer of the agency; or

(ii) a senior executive officer having responsibility for the overall operations of a principal geographic unit of the agency (e.g., regional administrators of EPA).

(b) All reports required by permits, and other information requested by the department shall be signed by a person described in subdivision (a) of this section, or by a duly authorized representative of that person. A person is a duly authorized representative only if:

(1) the authorization is made in writing by a person described in subdivision (a) of this section;

(2) the authorization specifies either an individual or a position having responsibility for the overall operation of the regulated facility or activity such as the position of plant manager, operator of a well or a well field, superintendent, position of equivalent responsibility, or an individual or position having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company (a duly authorized representative may thus be either a named individual or any individual occupying a named position); and

(3) the written authorization is submitted to the department.

(c) If an authorization under subdivision (b) of this section is no longer accurate because a different individual or position has responsibility for the overall operation of the facility, a new authorization satisfying the requirements of subdivision (b) of this section must be submitted to the department prior to or together with any reports, information, or applications to be signed by an authorized representative.

(d) In lieu of a signature, the department may permit the use of a unique identifier assigning responsibility for the veracity of the information contained in an application to the same person or persons that would otherwise be required to sign the application in this section. Such a document with a unique identifier shall be considered a "signed document" with a certifying signature and a written instrument that could subject the signatory to liability under the New York State Penal Law for officers concerning perjury and false written statements pursuant to articles 175 and 210 of said law.

(e) On the basis of previous violations by the duly authorized representative of the permittee for falsification of reports to the department, the department may revoke that person's authorization to sign reports to the department.

(f) No person shall knowingly make any material false statement, representation, or certification in any application, record, report, plan, or other document filed or required to be maintained under this permit, including monitoring reports.

(g) All applications, reports, or notifications required or authorized to be made or filed by this Part or by the provisions or conditions of any permit issued pursuant thereto, by or on behalf of a permittee, applicant for a permit or person subject to the requirement of a permit shall be sworn to in respect to all statements of fact therein or shall bear an executed statement as provided in section 210.45 of the New York State Penal Law to the effect that false statements made therein are made under penalty of perjury.