(1)

Directive 2003/87/EC established a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Union (‘EU ETS’). Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1122 (2) supplemented Directive 2003/87/EC as regards the functioning of the Union Registry. Due to the nature of maritime transport activities, in particular bulk commodity shipping, a shipping company might perform activities falling within the scope of the EU ETS, as defined in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC, in some reporting periods and outside of it in others. Competent authorities should therefore have the possibility to ask the national administrator to set the maritime operator holding account of a shipping company no longer included in the EU ETS to excluded status, after giving prior notice to the shipping company concerned. This status should remain until the competent authority notifies the national administrator that the shipping company is again included in the EU ETS.

(2)

Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC has been amended by Directive (EU) 2023/959 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) and provides that installations are not covered by Directive 2003/87/EC where during the preceding relevant five-year period referred to in Article 11(1), second subparagraph, of that Directive, emissions from the combustion of biomass that complies with the criteria set out in Article 14 of that Directive contribute on average to more than 95 % of the total average greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, national administrators need to be able to set these operator accounts to excluded status.

(3)

Article 30f(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC provides that regulated entities are to report historic emissions as from 2025. Article 30f(2) of that Directive provides that regulated entities are to report verified emissions as from 2026. To reduce the administrative burden and considering that it will only be possible for regulated entities to hold emission allowances on regulated entity holding accounts as from the start of auctioning in 2027, national administrators should create a national competent authority account that exclusively serves the purpose of reporting historical emissions in 2025 and verified emissions in 2026 at aggregated level.

(4)

To allow the Commission to calculate the cap for the emission trading system for combustion in the buildings and road transport sectors for the year 2028, detailed emissions for each regulated entity should be reported to the Commission by the national administrator by 30 June 2025 and by 30 June 2026, as applicable, by electronic means and by using the templates or file format specifications published by the Commission in accordance with Table IX-IV of Annex IX to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1122.

(5)

Article 13 of Directive 2003/87/EC provides that allowances issued from 1 January 2013 are to be valid indefinitely. Allowances issued before 1 January 2013, for the first and second phase of the EU ETS, are no longer valid and all such allowances held in accounts were invalidated at the end of the respective compliance period. As a result, a negative compliance figure cannot be corrected by a stationary installation and remains indefinitely. In order to avoid negative impacts on operators that have no technical nor legal means to comply with previous EU ETS obligations, that negative figure of the first and second phase of the EU ETS, should not be taken into account in the calculation of the compliance status.

(6)

Past experiences have shown the lack of compliance by some operators with surrendering obligations laid down in Articles 12(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC. In order to avoid distortion of the ETS objectives, and ensure compliance, if, on 1 October of each year, the number of allowances surrendered from a stationary installation holding account or an aircraft operator holding account is lower than its verified emissions in the current period and including the preceding year, the central administrator should ensure that the Union Registry sets the corresponding operator account to a blocked status.

(7)

Article 3c(6) of Directive 2003/87/EC established an additional support mechanism for the use of eligible aviation fuels. The support is provided in the form of allocating allowances to aircraft operators. Decision of the EEA Joint Committee No 334/2023 (4) established a system for Iceland to allocate additional free allowances to aircraft operators. To ensure the appropriate accounting of the allowances, the aviation allocation table should be extended accordingly.

(8)

Article 14(6) of Directive 2003/87/EC requires the Commission to publish certain emissions data aggregated per aircraft operator. This data is not relevant for the compliance controlled by the Union Registry, the publication of data aggregated at different levels serves only transparency. The public website of the Union Registry already publishes a set of data per aircraft operator. Therefore, it is appropriate to use the same publicly available website for the publication of emissions data under that Article. For the same reason, the same website should be used for the publication of data on non-CO2 effects of aviation reported under Article 14(5) of that Directive.

(9)

Article 58 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1122 allows for the account holder or a national administrator acting on behalf of the account holder to request a reversal of transactions performed in error or unintentionally. In order to give more flexibility to the account holder while ensuring the correct functioning of the accounting obligation of the Union Registry, the timeframe to submit such a request for reversal should be extended.

(10)

Rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of national courts have led to operators or sectors being excluded from the scope of Directive 2003/87/EC. To ensure enforceability of such rulings and the restitution of allowances for which the surrenders have been invalidated by such court, the central administrator should restitute surrendered allowances to the operator holding account. In order for the restitution of allowances not to lead to windfall profit for the operator benefiting from the restitution, the number of allowances to be restituted should be determined taking into account the evolution of the value of allowances and the inflation.

(11)

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1122 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(12)

The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) and delivered an opinion on 14 January 2025.

(13)

Directive 2003/87/EC provides that the monitoring and reporting of emissions from trading system for combustion in the buildings and road transport sectors is to start in 2025. To ensure consistency and clarity, the rules for account opening of national competent authority account for the purpose of reporting the emissions for the year 2024 and for the purpose of reporting verified emissions for the year 2025, should apply as of 1 January 2025.

(14)

As of 1 January 2025, general allowances are to be issued also for the aviation sector, by means of free allocation and auctioning. General allowances should therefore be transferred from the EU Auction Account as of 1 January 2025.

(15)

Therefore, this Regulation should enter into force urgently,

(1)

Article 9 is amended as follows:

(2)

Article 15b is amended as follows:

(3)

in Article 20, the following paragraph 10 is added:

(4)

in Article 22, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

(5)

the following Article 26c is inserted:

(6)

the following Article 32a is inserted:

(7)

in Article 33, the following paragraph 1d is inserted:

(8)

Article 40 is replaced by the following:

(*1)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2830 of 17 October 2023 supplementing Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council by laying down rules on the timing, administration and other aspects of auctioning of greenhouse gas emission allowances (OJ L, 2023/2830, 20.12.2023, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2023/2830/oj).’;"

(9)

in Article 48, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

(10)

in Article 49, the following paragraph 1a is inserted:

(*2)  Decision of the EEA joint Committee No 334/2023 of 8 December 2023 amending Annex XX (Environment) to the EEA Agreement [2024/1419] (OJ L, 2024/1419, 13.6.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2024/1419/oj).’;"

(11)

in Article 50, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

(12)

in Article 54(1), point (c) is replaced by the following:

(13)

Article 58 is amended as follows:

(14)

the following Article 58a is inserted before Chapter 3:

‘Article 58a

Restitution of allowances

1.   The central administrator shall restitute surrendered allowances to the operator holding account to give effect to a Member State’s decision and ruling in accordance with Article 27 or Article 27a of Directive 2003/87/EC, or a ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, finding that the activities carried out by the operator are out of the scope of that Directive.

2.   The number of allowances to be restituted shall be determined by applying the following formula and shall be rounded to the nearest integer:

Where:

The average value of allowances in the year of the surrender is determined based on the average auction clearing price for that year on the common auction platform pursuant to Article 26(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2830 (*3).

The average value of allowances in the year of the restitution is determined based on the average auction clearing price for that year on the common auction platform pursuant to Article 26(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2830.

The inflation is determined based on the consumer index price based on the European Union’s harmonised Index of Consumer Price.

3.   The same type of allowances that were initially surrendered shall be restituted from the Union deletion account to the operator holding account.

(*3)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2830 of 17 October 2023 supplementing Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council by laying down rules on the timing, administration and other aspects of auctioning of greenhouse gas emission allowances (OJ L, 2023/2830, 20.12.2023, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2023/2830/oj).’;"

(15)

Annex I is amended in accordance with Annex I to this Regulation;

(16)

Annex VII is amended in accordance with Annex II to this Regulation;

(17)

Annex IX is amended in accordance with Annex III to this Regulation;

(18)

Annex XI is replaced by the text in Annex IV to this Regulation;

(19)

Annex XIII is amended in accordance with Annex V to this Regulation.