(1)

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1604 (2) determines reference values for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2023 for each importer or producer that has lawfully placed on the market hydrofluorocarbons from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2019, as reported under Article 19 of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014.

(2)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1992 (3) amended Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1191/2014 (4) to allow for the separation of the reporting data in respect of amounts of hydrofluorocarbons placed on the market in the United Kingdom and in the Union of 27 Member States, from the calendar year 2018 onwards.

(3)

Importers and producers established in the United Kingdom have submitted additional verified data to the Commission, complementing the reporting they already made pursuant to Article 19 of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 for the years 2015 to 2017. Those data differentiate between hydrofluorocarbons placed on the market in the United Kingdom and in the Union of 27 Member States.

(4)

For the determination of reference values for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2023, where importers and producers reported to have placed hydrofluorocarbons on the market physically (i.e. not in the form of authorisations) both in the United Kingdom and in the Union of 27 Member States, Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1604 takes into account the amounts placed on the market in the Union of 27 Member States.

(5)

Pursuant to Article 18(2) of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014, where importers or producers authorise the use of their quota, the respective quantities of hydrofluorocarbons are considered to have been placed on the market by those companies at the moment of the authorisation. There is no reported data available that allow for the separation of authorisations to use quota into quantities of hydrofluorocarbons placed on the market in the United Kingdom and in the Union of 27 Member States. In addition, importers or producers are not in a position to specify in which market their authorised quota have been, or will be, used by the recipient company.

(6)

At the same time, where importers or producers reported physical placings on the market both in the United Kingdom and in the Union of 27 Member States, Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1604 provides that the identical market separation also applies to the total amount of authorisations to use quota issued by those importers and producers. In this respect, that Implementing Decision considers that only a share of those authorisations have been placed on the market in the Union of 27 Member States.

(7)

There is no direct link between a market separation related to quantities of hydrofluorocarbons physically placed on the market and a market separation related to authorisations to use quota. Therefore, the total amount of authorisations to use quota issued by importers or producers that, for the same year for any of the years from 2015 to 2019, have reported to have placed hydrofluorocarbons both on the market in the United Kingdom and in the Union of 27 Member States, should be considered as placed on the market in the Union of 27 Member States.

(8)

In this respect, the reference values for concerned importers and producers for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2023 should be recalculated. That recalculation only affects eight companies, which will be notified separately of the respective reference value. The importers and producers whose reference values are not affected by this Decision, will not receive an individual notification of their unchanged reference values.

(9)

Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1604 should therefore be amended accordingly as regards the reference values of eight importers and producers. The amendment only concerns the rows related to the reference values of each of these importers and producers as established in the Annex to this Decision.

(10)

In order to align the date of application of the amendments with the date of application of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1604, it is appropriate for this Decision to apply from 1 January 2021.

(11)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 24 of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014,