Electromagnetic scattering of plane waves obliquely incident on the edge of a planar anisotropic impedance surface is analyzed. A rigorous analytical solution, obtained by applying a procedure similar to that originally proposed by Maliuzhinets, is derived with reference to a couple of particular geometrical configurations. These latter are relevant to the case in which the anisotropic impedance surface is truncated to originate on either the edge of a half-plane, the other face being perfect electric conductor, or on a planar junction between the same anisotropic surface and a perfectly conducting plane. The exact integral representation for the total field is then asymptotically evaluated in the context of the uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (UTD). The particular kind of anisotropic surface impedance considered for the loaded face is suitable for modeling corrugated surfaces or strip-loaded grounded dielectric slabs, when the direction of either corrugations or strips is perpendicular to the edge. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.