Clean Water Act (CWA) section 401 requires that any applicant for a Federal license or permit to conduct an activity which may result in a discharge to navigable waters obtain, from the state in which the discharge would originate, certification that the discharge will comply with the state's applicable water quality requirements, including effluent limitations, water quality standards and toxic and pretreatment effluent standards. The current regulations were promulgated in May 1971. They pre-date the passage of the CWA in 1972 and were based on CWA section 401's predecessor, section 21(b) of the Water Quality Improvement Acts of 1970. In accordance with Executive Order 13868, "Promoting Energy Infrastructure and Economic Growth," the EPA updated its CWA section 401 guidance in June 2019 and issued a final rule in July 2020 to clarify and update its current water quality certification regulations to improve the efficiency of the CWA section 401 certification process and increase regulatory certainty.