Commission Regulation (EU) No 1193/2011 of 18 November 2011 establishing a Union Registry for the trading period commencing on 1 January 2013 , and subsequent trading periods, of the Union emissions trading scheme pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and amending Commission Regulations (EC) No 2216/2004 and (EU) No 920/2010 Text with EEA relevance
Commission Regulation (EU) No 1193/2011of 18 November 2011establishing a Union Registry for the trading period commencing on 1 January 2013, and subsequent trading periods, of the Union emissions trading scheme pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and amending Commission Regulations (EC) No 2216/2004 and (EU) No 920/2010(Text with EEA relevance)THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,Having regard to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/ECOJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 32., and in particular Article 19 thereof,Having regard to Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto ProtocolOJ L 49, 19.2.2004, p. 1., and in particular the first subparagraph, second sentence, Article 6(1) thereof,Having consulted the European Data Protection Supervisor,Whereas:(1)Article 19(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC requires that all allowances issued from 1 January 2012 onwards are held in a Union Registry on accounts managed by the Member States. Commission Regulation (EU) No 920/2010 of 7 October 2010 for a standardised and secured system of registries pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the CouncilOJ L 270, 14.10.2010, p. 1. provides for such a Union Registry.(2)Directive 2003/87/EC has been substantially amended by Directive 2009/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the CouncilOJ L 140, 5.6.2009, p. 63., requiring major changes to the registries system. The amendments apply from the trading period starting in 2013. At present, there is no international agreement replacing the Kyoto Protocol that would apply to Member States after 2012. Aviation allowances will be auctioned from 2012 on the basis of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1031/2010OJ L 302, 18.11.2010, p. 1., in the same way as general allowances. Therefore, in the interest of clarity and urgency, a new regulation should be adopted pursuant to Article 19 of Directive 2003/87/EC that should apply to the trading period of the Union emissions trading scheme commencing on 1 January 2013 and to subsequent periods. It should also apply to aviation allowances to be auctioned in 2012.(3)Commission Regulation (EC) No 2216/2004 of 21 December 2004 for a standardised and secured system of registries pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the CouncilOJ L 386, 29.12.2004, p. 1. and Regulation (EU) No 920/2010 should continue to apply in parallel to the trading period between 2008 and 2012 and to the obligations arising from the Kyoto Protocol. Regulations (EC) No 2216/2004 and (EU) No 920/2010 should be amended to implement urgent security provisions and other improvements, with immediate effect.(4)In order to ensure that Kyoto units and allowances can be held on the same Union Registry accounts, the Union Registry must conform to the functional and technical specifications for data exchange standards for registry systems under the Kyoto Protocol, adopted by Decision 12/CMP.1 of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.(5)Article 20 of Directive 2003/87/EC requires that an independent transaction log, the European Union Transaction Log (EUTL) is established to record the issue, transfer and cancellation of allowances. Article 6(2) of Decision No 280/2004/EC requires that information on the issue, holding, transfer, acquisition, cancellation and withdrawal of assigned amount units, removal units, emission reduction units and certified emission reductions and the carryover of assigned amount units, emission reduction units and certified emission reductions is made available to the transaction log.(6)Article 6 of Decision No 280/2004/EC requires the Union and its Member States to apply the functional and technical specifications for data exchange standards for registry systems under the Kyoto Protocol, adopted by Decision 12/CMP.1, for the establishment and operation of registries and the EUTL.(7)The Union Registry should contain the accounts required to implement the requirements of Directive 2003/87/EC. Each account should be created in accordance with standardised procedures to ensure the integrity of the registries system and public access to information held in this system. Allowances should be issued in the Union Registry.(8)Transactions with allowances within the Union Registry should be carried out through a communication link involving the EUTL, whereas transactions with Kyoto units should be carried out through a communication link involving both the EUTL and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) International Transaction Log (ITL).(9)The EUTL should perform automated checks on all processes in the registries system concerning allowances, verified emissions, accounts and Kyoto units, and the ITL should perform automated checks on processes concerning Kyoto units to ensure that there are no irregularities. Processes that fail these checks should be terminated in order to ensure that transactions in the Union registries system comply with the requirements of Directive 2003/87/EC and the requirements elaborated pursuant to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.(10)Adequate and harmonised requirements on opening of accounts, authentication and access rights should be applied to protect the security of information held in the integrated registries system and to avoid fraud. The review of these requirements should be considered in the future with a view to ensuring their effectiveness while taking into account proportionality. Records concerning all processes, operators and persons in the registries system should be kept.(11)The central administrator should ensure that interruptions to the operation of the registries system are kept to a minimum by taking all reasonable steps to ensure the availability of the Union Registry and the EUTL and by providing for robust systems and procedures to safeguard relevant information.(12)As allowances and Kyoto units exist only in dematerialised form and are fungible, the title to an allowance or Kyoto unit should be established by their existence in the account of the Union Registry in which they are held. Moreover, to reduce the risks associated with the undoing of transactions entered in a registry, and the consequent disruption to the system and to the market that such undoing may cause, it is necessary to ensure that allowances and Kyoto units are fully fungible. In particular, transactions cannot be reversed, revoked or unwound, other than as defined by the rules of the registry, after a moment set out by those rules. Nothing in this Regulation should prevent an account holder or a third party from exercising any right or claim resulting from the underlying transaction that they may have in law to recovery or restitution in respect of a transaction that has entered a system, e.g. in case of fraud or technical error, as long as this does not lead to the reversal, revocation or unwinding of the transaction. Furthermore, the acquisition of an allowance or Kyoto unit in good faith should be protected.(13)Since it may be desirable to provide for additional account types or other means that would facilitate the holding of allowances or Kyoto units on behalf of third parties, or the taking of a security interest in them, these issues should be examined in the context of a future review of this Regulation.(14)In accordance with Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EECOJ L 41, 14.2.2003, p. 26. and Decision 13/CMP.1, specific reports should be made public on a regular basis to ensure that the public has access to information held within the integrated system of registries, subject to certain confidentiality requirements.(15)Union legislation concerning the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, in particular Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such dataOJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31., Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sectorOJ L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37. and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such dataOJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1., should be respected where these are applicable to information held and processed pursuant to this Regulation.(16)The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Climate Change Committee,HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: