(1)

Further to the submission by Member States of their National Implementation Measures (NIMs), the Commission adopted Decision (EU) 2021/355 (2) on national implementation measures for the transitional free allocation of greenhouse gas emission allowances. That Decision rejects the inscription of certain installations and their corresponding data on the lists of installations covered by Directive 2003/87/EC, thus excluding them from the scope of the emissions trading system of the Union (EU ETS).

(2)

Installations exclusively using biomass were excluded from the EU ETS, in line with paragraph 1 of Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC. That provision was introduced in the ETS Directive by Directive 2009/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), and since its application on 1 January 2013, it determined a new scope for the EU ETS. Therefore, the inscription of the installations that used biomass exclusively for all the years of the baseline period is to be rejected despite being listed in accordance with Article 11(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC.

(3)

The Commission was informed that Sweden had erroneously included in its NIMs the installation SE-207651. That installation uses biomass exclusively and for that reason should have been excluded from the scope of the EU ETS.

(4)

Following a query from the Commission, Denmark confirmed that installations DK-65, DK-66 and DK-135 had no fossil emissions during the baseline period 2014 – 2018. Those installations use biomass exclusively and should also have been excluded from the scope of the EU ETS.

(5)

It is therefore appropriate to reject the inscription of the installations DK-65, DK-66, DK-135 and SE-207651 on the lists of installations covered by Directive 2003/87/EC for all the years of the baseline period including when they were listed in accordance with Article 11(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC.

(6)

Following a request for clarification from the Commission, France informed the Commission that two installations, FR-206164 and FR-206032, only produce polymers. Both installations have zero direct CO2 emissions because they import the heat needed for the production from another EU ETS installation. In the judgment in Case C-577/16 (4), the Court of Justice held that an installation for the production of polymers which obtains the heat needed for that production from a third-party installation does not fall within the scope of the EU ETS, since it does not generate direct CO2 emissions. The inscription of those installations on the lists of installations covered by Directive 2003/87/EC should therefore be rejected.

(7)

Decision (EU) 2021/355 should therefore be amended accordingly,