Examination Records for API 653
API 653 names this requirement as "Method-by-method mapping to the normative NDE Requirements Summary annex: examination required, acceptance standard, and examiner qualification". The employer's Level III owns it, and a contracted Level III can author and sign it.
The finding auditors record against this document is: NDE Requirements Summary annex not used as a checklist, so a required examination such as root and final pass on annular plate butt welds, or examination of repaired shell-to-bottom welds, is omitted. API 653 is the one code in this set that names an independent contract organization as an acceptable authorized inspection agency, so a tank inspection company can itself be the AIA for an owner-operator — a materially different commercial position from API 510 or 570. Three normative annexes carry most of the service-provider obligation: the Authorized Inspector Certification annex, which makes API the certifying agency for the inspector; the NDE Requirements Summary annex, which maps each method to where it is required, to its acceptance standard and to its examiner-qualification requirement; and, informatively, the annex on qualification of tank bottom examination procedures and personnel, which is where floor-scanning contracts are won and lost.
Source: API 653 Exam Administration Publications Effectivity Sheet for the March, July and November 2025 exams, api.org — verified for API Standard 653, 5th Edition, November 2014, with Addendum 1 (April 2018), Addendum 2 (May 2020) and Addendum 3 (November 2023), and for the referenced editions of API RP 571 (3rd, March 2020, listed mechanisms only), RP 575 (4th, July 2020), RP 576 (4th, April 2017, sections 4.3.2 and 6.6 only), RP 577 (3rd, October 2020), API Standard 650 (13th, March 2020 with Errata 1, January 2021), RP 651 (4th, September 2014), RP 652 (5th, May 2020), and ASME BPVC 2023 Edition Section V Articles 1, 2, 6, 7 and 23 (SE-797 only) plus Section IX, welding only. A fourth addendum has appeared in reseller listings; confirm against the current API effectivity sheet before relying on it. API publisher's preview of the 5th edition, api.org — verified for the scope statement, the API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 relationship, and the full contents including Section 6.10 NDE, Section 12 Examination and Testing, Annex B (normative) evaluation of tank bottom settlement, Annex D (normative) Authorized Inspector Certification, Annex F (normative) NDE Requirements Summary and Annex G (informative) Qualification of Tank Bottom Examination Procedures and Personnel. The definitions of authorized inspection agency, authorized inspector, repair organization and critical zone, the structure of Annex F, and the recertification and actively-engaged rules were verified against the 3rd edition (2003) full text published at law.resource.org — the most recent complete text in the public domain — and cross-checked against API's current ICP recertification policy; re-check the exact wording against the 5th edition with addenda. Commonly cited interval formulas (external at five years or RCA/4N; ultrasonic thickness at RCA/2N or fifteen years; internal capped at twenty years, thirty with a release prevention barrier) come from secondary summaries only and are not stated as verified. API ICP Schedules & Fees for fees and 2026 exam windows.
| Item | What applies | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Regime | API Standard 653, Tank Inspection, Repair, Alteration, and Reconstruction — Aboveground Storage Tank Inspection Programme | Enforced by American Petroleum Institute is the certifying agency for the Authorized Inspector under the code's normative Authorized Inspector Certification annex; the inspection programme is owned by the tank owner-operator and, where the state has adopted API 653, overseen by the state environmental or fire-safety authority |
| Document | Examination Records | the general, specific and practical examination papers and results behind each certification |
| Owner | the employer's Level III | The signature an auditor traces back |
| Where it is checked | Data evaluated — shell minimum thickness, bottom remaining thickness, settlement against the settlement annex — and the next. | Usually against a sampled job, not in isolation |
| Common failure | Bottom scan reported as a percentage of area covered with no qualified procedure and no personnel qualification behind it | The gap between the manual and the job file |
What must a examination records contain under API 653?
It has to satisfy API 653 as American Petroleum Institute is the certifying agency for the Authorized Inspector under the code's normative Authorized Inspector Certification annex; the inspection programme is owned by the tank owner-operator and, where the state has adopted API 653, overseen by the state environmental or fire-safety authority enforces it: the general, specific and practical examination papers and results behind each certification. The test is not completeness on paper but traceability — an auditor picks a finished job and works backwards to this document, so anything it claims must be demonstrable on that job.
Who signs the examination records for API 653?
The employer's Level III. Because this regime accepts employer-based certification, that role can be filled by a contracted Level III rather than a staff appointment, provided they are qualified in the methods they sign for.
How does a API 653 auditor test this document?
By sampling. They take a completed job, find the technicians and equipment used, and trace each back through this document to the evidence behind it. A document that reads well but cannot survive that trace is the most common finding across every regime, not just this one.
How long must API 653 records be kept?
No company certificate. The API 653 Authorized Inspector certificate runs three years. Recertification requires the inspector to remain actively engaged — defined in the code's certification annex as a minimum of 20 percent of time spent performing or supervising API 653 inspection activities over the most recent three-year certification period — and inspectors who have not been actively engaged must recertify by written examination. Once every second recertification period, that is every six years, an actively engaged inspector must demonstrate knowledge of the revisions made in the previous six years; API currently satisfies this with a 25-question open-book web quiz. Published API fees are $875 member and $1,125 non-member initial, $745 and $855 recertification. The 2026 API 653 exam windows are 13 March–3 April and 10–31 July 2026. Retention is set by the regime and by the client contract above it, and the longer of the two governs. Firms that set one retention period for everything and document it fare better at audit than firms tracking different periods per record type and losing track.
Does a generic template satisfy API 653?
No. A downloaded template describes a generic firm, and the first question an auditor asks is whether the document describes THIS firm — its methods, its equipment, its people, its actual workflow. Templates are a starting structure; the content has to be the firm's own or the trace fails immediately.
What happens if this document is missing at a API 653 audit?
It is a finding, and depending on the regime it can suspend the certificate rather than merely generate a corrective action. The related finding auditors record most often is: Bottom scan reported as a percentage of area covered with no qualified procedure and no personnel qualification behind it
Where this sits in the API 653 evidence pack
- Current API 653 Authorized Inspector certificate, plus documentation of the authorized inspection agency relationship the code's definitions require
- Tank inspection procedure package covering external inspection, ultrasonic thickness inspection from the outside, and internal inspection
- Method-by-method mapping to the normative NDE Requirements Summary annex: examination required, acceptance standard, and examiner qualification
- Tank bottom examination procedure and personnel qualification records, per the annex on qualification of tank bottom examination procedures and personnel
- Bottom scan data with prove-up ultrasonic verification readings
- Shell course thickness data with the minimum required thickness calculation and joint efficiency basis
- Settlement survey data evaluated to the normative tank bottom settlement annex
- Repair and reconstruction records, weld maps, radiographic, magnetic particle and penetrant reports, vacuum box and hydrostatic test records
- Inspection report, nameplate and certification records under the marking and recordkeeping section
Personnel certification context
Split, but differently from API 510 and 570. The Authorized Inspector is centrally certified by API under the code's normative certification annex — API is the certifying agency, and the inspector must be an employee of an authorized inspection agency. Critically, that agency may be an independent organization or individual under contract to and under the direction of the owner-operator, recognised or not prohibited by the jurisdiction, provided the owner-operator's inspection programme provides the necessary controls. NDE examiner qualification is not routed through a single scheme: the normative NDE Requirements Summary annex sets the requirement method by method, and for several methods defers to API 650's requirement for an examiner with adequate vision who is competent in the examination, interpretation and evaluation of results. Employer-based certification governs, and an outsourced Level III can approve the procedures and certify the examiners.
Related: the API 653 overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.