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The Commission updated the FAQ on its proposal

07/02/2014



On 6 February, the European Commission (EC) published on its website its updated FAQ on the proposal to restrict EU ETS to intra-European flights in 2013 and to European regional airspace starting from 2014.
 
Main change from the initial FAQ is the Q&A number 15 (What will be enforced in the period after April 2014?). The answer is:

'The proposal should be agreed between the European Parliament and Council by April 
2014, and the Commission will do everything it can to facilitate this process. 
The Commission confirms that pending completion of the legislative process, aircraft 
operators should not expect the Commission to require enforcement activities to be taken against them by Member States in respect of not having reported emissions or 
surrendered allowances before 31 March 2014 and 30 April 2014 respectively with 
regards to flights operated during 2013.
'

Following the updated FAQ, a  number of Competent Authorities have published an updated guidance to aircraft operators.
 

For their legal safety, Verifavia recommends operators to report their full scope Annex 1 flights before 31 March 2014 as originally planned. If and when the new Directive is voted in April, it will still be possible to downsize the 2013 AEM report to the applicable scope (e.g. intra-European emissions only), and re-submit it to the Competent Authority together with an updated verification opinion statement.

Verifavia will produce the second verification opinion statement at no extra cost. Note that the dowsizing of the 2013 AEM report to intra-European flights will most probably be done automatically for operators using ETSWAP and the FMS.

The other benefit of full scope emissions reporting is that it will allow small emitters to determine clearly whether they are above or below the likely future exemption threshold (100 tCO2 or 1000 tCO2) and prove their exemption if appropriate.


Please find below an extract of the German and Danish guidelines which include a description of the process to follow for 2013 reporting:

Denmark: 

'However, until an agreement is reached current Danish and EU law remains in force.  For your legal safety we recommend that operators continue to monitor all of your emissions in accordance with the current national legislation in force, which is based on the full scope of the Directive’s Annex I activity.
 
In order to prepare best for a possible change of scope, we recommend that 2013 annual emissions reports distinguish between full scope flights (all flights to and from an EEA airport) and flights only within the EEA territory (similar to 2012 reporting). Total emissions for a reduced intra EU scope should be listed in section 10 of the emissions report. This is recommended in case the Proposal is agreed in favor of a geographical scope similar to the “stop-the-clock” decision last year. In this way, you may prevent the need for a new report according to the new requirements.
 
Verifiers should be aware that annual emissions reports may distinguish between two geographical scopes. In this case total emissions according to both scopes shall be verified
.

The deadline for reporting, 31st of March 2014, and deadline for surrender of allowances, 30th of April 2014, remains effective until the revised Directive enters into force, and penalties apply for failure to surrender allowances by 30 April 2014.'

Germany

'Aircraft operators who want complete their 2013 emissions reporting in full for legal certainty within the deadline of 31/03/2014 may use the electronic template on our website. If, as expected, the scope will be reduced by the change to the Directive, DEHSt will determine the reduced volume of surrender required based on the "full-scope" emissions report and inform the respective aircraft operator. A repeat submission of the emissions report will in this case not be necessary.

Apart from the aforementioned potential changes to the rules, emission allowances can already be surrendered. It has to be borne in mind that if under the new legal situation too many allowances had been surrendered, they cannot be refunded. However, they will be credited against the surrendering obligation for the following years.'
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