Development of CDX Workflow for 

Electronic Toxic Substances Control Act 

(eTSCA) Submissions 

Draft User Guide 

Version 1.0 

November 13, 2008 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Central Data Exchange (CDX) 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

ii

Table of Contents 

Section 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................1-1

1.1 Background..................................................................................................................1-1

1.2 Scope...........................................................................................................................1-1

Section 2. System High Level Overview ................................................................................2-1

Section 3. Web CDX Registration Steps ................................................................................3-1

Section 4. User Certificate and Key Pair Generation............................................................4-1

Section 5. Data Submission....................................................................................................5-1

Section 6. Download Reports .................................................................................................6-1

Section 7. Transaction History ...............................................................................................7-1

Section 8. Transaction Details................................................................................................8-1

Abbreviations and Acronyms ....................................................................................................1
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 1-1

Section 1. Introduction 

This document presents the user guide for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA's) 

Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) / Office of Pollution Prevention 

and Toxics (OPPT), and Central Data Exchange (CDX) Electronic Toxic Substances Control Act 

(eTSCA) Submissions data flow that provides service for 30 different types of Toxic Substances 

Control Act (TSCA) submissions through EPA’s CDX system. 

1.1 Background 

The purpose of this system is to provide secure electronic submission and receipt of eTSCA 

submissions. Industries can submit the encrypted and signed data through CDX to the OPPT 

environment in the Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS). OPPT analysts obtain the 

data from ECMS and use it in a workflow process. 

The eTSCA application facilitates the receipt and storage of eTSCA-related submissions into 

the ECMS.

1.2 Scope 

The eTSCA User Guide provides the user with the information that she/he need to know about 

Registration for CDX and Client use, as well as handling backup of the Encryption and 

Decryption Keys. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 2-1

Section 2. System High Level Overview 

The eTSCA system involves submission and distribution of eTSCA detail reports using the Web 

services capabilities and generic services of the CDX Node, Java Node Client, and eTSCA 

back-end node. The eTSCA system provides the following capabilities: 

• Submitters can submit encrypted and signed eTSCA detail reports in Zip format via Web 

services to the CDX Node. 

• The CDX Node validates the signature on the .zip file 

• The CDX Node distributes eTSCA detail reports to the NCS Back-end Node via Web 

services. 

• The NCS Back-end Node accepts the eTSCA detail report and validates the signature, 

decrypts the document, unzips it, processes it, and loads it to the Documentum system. 

• The NCS Back-end Node notifies the CDX Node of the document processing outcome. 

• The NCS Back-end Node submits the copy of records for all received documents to the 

CDX Node. 

• The CDX Node provides the status of the transaction to the Client via Web services and 

e-mails. 

• The CDX Node provides the Copy of Record (CoR) to the Client via Web services. 

• The Node Client provides an ability to decrypt the CoR. 

• The Node Client provides an ability to submit Support documents via submit Web 

services. 

• The Node Client provides an ability to download documents from the CDX Node via 

download Web services. 

• The CDX Node distributes Support documents to the NCS Back-end Node. 

• The NCS Back-end Node submits documents containing a Submission Report Number 

(SRN document) to the CDX Node via submit Web services. 

• The NCS Backend Node submits document containing a Pre-manufacturing Notice 

(PMN) Case Number to the CDX Node via submit Web services. 

• The CDX Node provides the status of documents downloaded to the NCS Back-end 

Node via query Web services. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-1

Section 3. Web CDX Registration Steps 

The following section describes CDX Web registration process for an eTSCA submitter. All CDX 

Web users enter the system through the CDX Web Home page as shown in Figure 3-1. 

Figure 3-1. CDX Web Home Page 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-2

New users click on a “Registration” link to start a registration wizard. A warning notice will be 

displayed as shown in Figure 3-2. 

Figure 3-2. CDX Web Warning Notice and Privacy Statement 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-3

The user clicks on the continue option to start the registration process. This action will display 

terms and conditions agreement form as shown in Figure 3-3. 

Figure 3-3. Terms & Conditions Agreement Form 

The user can accept the terms and conditions by clicking the “I Accept” button or cancel the 

registration by clicking the “I Decline” button. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-4

Once the user has accepted the registration agreement, he or she will be redirected to the 

personal information form as shown in Figure 3-4. 

Figure 3-4. CDX Registration: User Information 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-5

After choosing a login, password and secret question, the user will be asked for his or her 

Organization information as shown in Figure 3-5. 

Figure 3-5. CDX Registration: Organization Information 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-6

The user will have to provide his or her Organization name, address, e-mail, and phone number. 

Clicking the “Next” button will lead to the Add CDX Web Program page. On this page the user 

will be able to choose the “TSCA” dataflow as shown in Figure 3-6. 

Figure 3-6. CDX Registration: Add Program 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-7

After adding the “TSCA” program to the new user account, the user will have to choose the 

“Submitter” role on the Add Program ID page as shown in Figure 3-7. 

Figure 3-7. Add Program ID 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-8

This will trigger the Electronic Signature agreement process as shown in Figure 3-8. 

Figure 3-8. Create ESA Dialog 

The user clicks on the “Create ESA & Continue” button to proceed with the Electronic Signature 

Agreement (ESA) generation process. The resulting agreement form is shown in Figures 3-9, 3-

10, 3-11, and 3-12. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-9

Figure 3-9. Electronic Signature Agreement Form 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-10

Figure 3-10. Electronic Signature Agreement Form (Cont’d) 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-11

Figure 3-11. Electronic Signature Agreement Form (Cont’d) 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-12

Figure 3-12. Electronic Signature Agreement Form (Cont’d) 

The user will be asked to print the resulted ESA as part of the ESA procedure. 

This completes the initial user registration process. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-13

Figure 3-13. Registration Complete 

After hitting the Finished button, the user will be redirected to the CDX Web home page screen 

as shown in Figure 3-14. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-14

Figure 3-14. Empty CDX Web Home Page 

The user registration application will be reviewed by the eTSCA approver and if the user 

credentials are confirmed, the user will be notified via e-mail that his or her account has been 

activated. Figure 3-15 shows a sample e-mail. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-15

Figure 3-15. Registration approval email 

The system will send a Registration status change notification email, requesting the user to relogin into the system and continue with user setup process. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-16

 

Figure 3-16. CDX Registration Status Change

Upon receiving the approval letter, the user will be able to login to the CDX Web application as 

shown in Figure 3-17. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-17

Figure 3-17. Central Data Exchange Login 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-18

The first time a user logins into CDX Web, he or she will be asked to provide answers to 5 out of 

20 questions. Each time the user enters CDX Web thereafter one of the answered questions will 

be used to confirm the identity of the submitter to satisfy the 20-5-1 CROMERR requirement. 

The questions are shown in Figure 3-18. 

Figure 3-18. 20-5-1 CROMERR Questions Page 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-19

A Confirmation Page will be displayed to a user after he or she have answered the verification 

questions and saved the desired answers, as shown in Figure 3-19. 

Figure 3-19. Answers to Your eSIG-PIN Questions 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-20

After the account has been activated, the user will have a “TSCA” program link on his or her 

CDX Web home page as shown in Figure 3-20. 

Figure 3-20. TSCA Program Link 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 3-21

CDX Web will send a confirmation letter for 20-5-1 e-signature questions as shown in Figure 3-

21. 

Figure 3-21. eSIG-PIN Questions Answered Confirmation Letter 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 4-1

Section 4. User Certificate and Key Pair 

Generation 

A user certificate and Private/Public Key pair is used to digitally sign and encrypt the submitted 

documents, providing security protection for eTSCA submissions. The certificate and key pair 

will be automatically obtained by the Node Client dialog in the Report Tool after the first login. 

When the document submission function of report tool is accessed, the Node Client dialog login 

screen will be displayed as shown in Figure 4-1. 

Figure 4-1. Node Client Login and Warning Notice 

On this screen the user will be presented with a warning notice, privacy statements and links to 

CDX Web resources for account management. The user enters his or her user name and 

password and chooses between the Production, Test, and Development environments. This 

choice will determine the destination for all document submissions and queries that will be 

performed through the Node Client during the current login session. After successful login, the 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 4-2

user key pair and certificate will be created automatically and managed by the Node Client, 

without requiring user interaction. 

The Node Client stores the following data into a keystore under the user home directory: 

• user ID 

• user private key 

• user certificate 

• creation time 

The following file will be created: \<userHome>\ .<userId>-cromerr-keystore.jks 

Where <userHome> is a local user home directory (C:\Documents and Settings\myuser) and 

<userId> is an eTSCA user ID, registered with CDX Web. The user can copy this file to another 

safe location for backup, if desired. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 5-1

Section 5. Data Submission 

The user will prepare the desired document for submission using the Report Tool Node Client 

Submit dialog. Upon successful login, the following dialog will be presented to the user: 

Figure 5-1. Submit Dialog, Before Submission 

The document path will be automatically populated for the user by the Report Tool. The user 

has the option to submit Original or Support documents through this dialog. Support documents 

require a valid Transaction ID, corresponding to an original submission. The user can click on a 

“Submit File to Node” button to initiate the transaction. One of the 20-5-1 questions will be 

presented to the user to verify his or her identity. 

Figure 5-2. 20-5-1 CROMERR Question 

The system will then encrypt the desired document with the Public key of the back-end server 

and transmit the encrypted document with related metadata to CDX. The CDX Transaction ID 

will be presented to the user on a submit dialog for the user’s reference. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 5-2

Figure 5-3. Document Submitted to CDX 

The user can click on a “Check Transaction Status” button to check the status of submitted 

document and download any document related reports. CDX will also send an email 

confirmation of the submission as shown in Figure 5-4. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 5-3

Figure 5-4. Submission Confirmation E-mail 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 6-1

Section 6. Download Reports 

CDX will send notification e-mails (see Figure 6-1) in case any transaction related reports are 

available for download through the Node Client dialog of the Report Tool. 

Figure 6-1. Report Notification E-mail 

The user can open the Node Client dialog and click on the eTSCA Document Download tab. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 6-2

Figure 6-2. Document Download tab 

The user can copy the transaction ID and a report name from an e-mail notification and click on 

the “Document Download” button. The system will attempt to download the requested file and 

decrypt it using the private key of the currently logged in user. The file save dialog will be 

presented to the user as shown in Figure 6-3. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 6-3

Figure 6-3. File Save Dialog 

All transaction related reports are also available for search and download through the 

transaction details dialog, discussed later in this guide. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 7-1

Section 7. Transaction History 

The transaction history search dialog will be presented to a user upon clicking the “ETSCA 

Transaction Search” tab as shown in Figure 7-1. 

Figure 7-1. Transaction Search 

The user can search for a specific transaction within a given time period using transaction ID 

and/or status, or request a complete list of transactions during this time period. Transaction 

search results will be presented to the user in the “Transaction Search Results” panel. 

Figure 7-2. Transaction Search Results 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 7-2

Two buttons are available for each transaction; “Check Status” and “Details”. The Check Status 

button will refresh the status column of a given transaction with a new CDX status. This way the 

user can quickly check if a given transaction failed on the server. The Details button will open 

the transaction details dialog. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 8-1

Section 8. Transaction Details 

The Transaction Details dialog displays the detailed transaction information, including all of the 

documents and reports associated with the current transaction. 

Figure 8-1. Transaction Details Dialog 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 8-2

The user can check the transaction status by clicking the “Check Status” button and can review 

the audit information by clicking on the “Audit Details” button as shown in Figure 8-2. 

Figure 8-2. Audit Details dialog 

The user can close the dialog by clicking the “Done” button. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 8-3

The user can also download available reports by clicking the “Download” button related to a 

desired report. This will automatically initiate the download procedure. The document will get 

decrypted with the current user private key and the Save File dialog will be presented to a user. 

Reports can be saved on a local hard drive and accessed with the appropriate application. 
U.S. EPA CDX Draft User Guide 

 AB-1

Abbreviations and Acronyms 

Acronym/Term Definition 

CDX Central Data Exchange 

CoR Copy of Record 

ECMS Enterprise Content Management System 

EPA Environmental Protection Agency 

ESA Electronic Signature Agreement 

eTSCA Electronic Toxic Substances Control Act 

IE Internet Explorer 

OPPT Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics 

OPPTS Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances 

PMN Pre-manufacturing Notice 

SRN Submission Report Number 

SSL secure socket layer 

TSCA Toxic Substances Control Act 

UI user interface 

WSDL Web services description language