What Are EPA Regulations?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency works to protect the health of humans and the condition of the environment by establishing environmental standards and regulations, according to its website. EPA regulations span across a wide variety of topics, and compliance with regulations is mandatory.

Function

• EPA regulations clarify which types of products, materials or behaviors are legal and which ones are not. When regulations are created and approved, they are issued in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is the official record of all of the federal government's regulations. EPA regulations apply to businesses, individuals, non-profit organizations, schools and state and local government entities.

Features

• Regulations issued by the EPA provide information about why a regulation was created, what the regulation's objectives are and how entities can measure whether they are in compliance with the regulation. For example, regulations about air pollution explain how much pollution must be generated in order for the entity to be out of compliance with the EPA law.

Enforcement

• According to the EPA website, the U.S. Congress has granted the EPA authority to put environmental laws into effect and enforce the regulations. Entities that violate EPA regulations are subject to enforcement programs, such as civil, cleanup and criminal enforcement. Enforcements are determined by the types of violation and their severity.