20-08-2009

AVIATION & EU-ETS

According to the European Union Directive 2008/101/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community (published in the Official Journal on 13 January 2009) aircraft operators operating flights to/ from an aerodrome situated in the territory of an European Union Member State are required to:
-    submit the Emissions Monitoring Plan and Tonne-Kilometre Monitoring Plan to the competent authority in the administering Member State by 31 August 2009;
-    starting from 2010, monitor and report verified data on CO2 emissions arising from aviation activities on intra-EU flights and from all flights entering and departing from EU airports;
-    starting from 2012, surrender emission allowances for all flights covered by the Directive 2008/101/EC.

If your organisation is operating an aircraft into or out of any EU airport, your organisation is included in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community (EU-ETS), subject to a number of exemptions as set out in the Annex I of the Directive 2008/101/EC.

Failure to comply with the requirements of the Directive 2008/101/EC may result in financial penalties for the aircraft operator and even a ban on operating within the EU.

The most immediate of these requirements is to submit a proposed Emission Monitoring Plan by 31 August 2009.

In order to apply for an allocation of free allowances, aircraft operators have also to submit a Tonne-Kilometre Monitoring Plan by 31 August 2009. Individual free allocation to each aircraft operator will be made based on the reported and verified tonne kilometre data for the year 2010. In case you do not apply for free allocation of allowances you will have to purchase all the needed allowances to cover your emissions of carbon dioxide.

More information on the subject, including a guidance document to help aircraft operators compile their monitoring plans and example emissions monitoring plans and tonne-kilometre monitoring plans can be found on the European Commission website:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/aviation_en.htm

According to the European Commission revised list of aircraft operators and their administering Member States, allocating aircraft operators to Member States for the purpose of EU ETS the air operators that will become subject to the requirements of the EU-ETS and will be administered by Romania are:
AIR JET LDA                       UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
AIRCRAFT TRADERS            BELGIUM
AIRJET ANGOLA                  ANGOLA
ARP 410 AIRLINES              UKRAINE
AVE.COM FZC                     UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
BLUE AIR TRANSPORT          ROMANIA
CARPATAIR                        ROMANIA
CHALLENGE AERO                UKRAINE
DETA AIR                           KAZAKHSTAN
DOLPHIN AIR                      UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
EMAIR                                TURKEY
GLOBAL ACFT SOLUTION      UNITED STATES
GM HELICOPTERS                LATVIA
ION TIRIAC AIR                  ROMANIA
JETRAN                              UNITED STATES
JETRAN AIR S.R.L.               ROMANIA
LIBYAVIA AVIATION             LIBYA
MAX AVIA                           RUSSIAN FEDERATION
MIA                                   LEBANON
MIA AIRLINES                     LEBANON
MIAMI AIR INTL                  UNITED STATES
MIDDLE EAST AVIATION       LEBANON
MIL CANADA                       CANADA
RED STAR (FZE)                  UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
ROMANIAN CIVIL                 ROMANIA
ROMAVIA ROMANIAN            ROMANIA
ROSTVERTOL                      RUSSIAN FEDERATION
TAROM                               ROMANIA
TOMBOUCTOU AVTN COMP   MALI
VEGA AIR COMPANY             UKRAINE
VICTORIA AVTN                   SWITZERLAND
VISION AIRLINES                 UNITED STATES

In Romania the competent authorities for administering the EU-ETS scheme will be:

-    The Ministry of Environment, by the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) – responsible for the approval of aircraft operator’s monitoring plans and validation of annual emissions reports;

-    The Ministry of Transports and Infrastructure, by the Romanian Civil Aeronautical Authority (RCAA) - responsible for the contact with aircraft operators and preliminary assessment of aircraft operator’s monitoring plans.

That means that all the necessary documents and data (including the monitoring plans) which are required in order to fulfil the aircraft operator’s obligations pursuant to the Directive 2008/101/EC must be submitted to the Romanian Civil Aeronautical Authority (RCAA).

REQUIREMENTS FOR MONITORING PLANS AND REPORTS

1.    Emission Monitoring Plan and Report

An aircraft operator who is included in the EU-ETS and is administered by Romania must submit an Emission Monitoring Plan to the RCAA by 31st August 2009.

NEPA will approve or reject the emissions monitoring plan by 31st December 2009.
From 1st January 2010 onwards, operators must monitor emissions in accordance with their approved emissions monitoring plan and the provisions of the Commission Decision 2009/339/EC of 16 April 2009 amending Decision 2007/589/EC as regards the inclusion of monitoring and reporting guidelines for emissions and tonne-kilometre data from aviation activities (Monitoring and Reporting Decision) and must submit, by 31st March each year, to the RCAA the Emissions Report for the previous year. Prior to submission the report must be verified by a third party verifier accredited by the Romanian Ministry of Economy (www.minind.ro).
In case of failure to submit an Emissions Monitoring Plan, or failure to monitor and report CO2 emissions, aircraft operator will be subject to penalties as stated in  Directive 2008/101/EC.

2.    Tonne-kilometre Monitoring Plan and Report

Aircraft operators who wish to apply for free allowances for the period 2012 to 2020 must submit a Tonne-kilometre Monitoring Plan to the RCAA by 31st August 2009.

NEPA will approve or reject the Tonne-kilometre Monitoring Plan by 31st December 2009.
From 1st January 2010, operators must monitor the tonne-kilometre data in accordance with their approved tonne-kilometre monitoring plan and the provisions of the Commission Decision 2009/339/EC of 16 April 2009 amending Decision 2007/589/EC (Monitoring and Reporting Decision) and must submit, by the 31st March 2011, to the RCAA a Report of the Tonne-kilometre data. Prior to submission the report must be verified by a third party verifier accredited by the Romanian Ministry of Economy (www.minind.ro).

In case of failure to submit a Tonne-kilometre Monitoring Plan, or failure to monitor and report tonne-kilometre data, aircraft operator will not receive free allocation of allowances for the period from 2012 to 2020.

3.    Completion and surrender of monitoring plans

The Emissions Monitoring Plan and Tonne-kilometre Monitoring Plan shall be filled-in using the templates provided by the European Commission at
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/emission/mrg_templates_en.htm
and translated into the Romanian language.

Considering the short time period left till the compliance date of 31.08.2009, NEPA (the competent authority responsible for the approval of aircraft operators monitoring plans) agree,in a first phase, to allow the submission of the Emission Monitoring Plan and Tonne-kilometre Monitoring Plan also in English version, allowing aircraft operators more time to translate them into the Romanian language, till 31.09.2009.

The Emissions Monitoring Plans and Tonne-kilometre Monitoring Plans must be submitted to the RCAA:

In electronic format (Microsoft Excel) - by e-mail at: dir.gen@caa.ro

and on paper at the following address:
Romanian Civil Aeronautical Authority
Sos. Bucuresti – Ploiesti Nr. 38-40, Sector 1
Bucharest, Romania RO-013695

In order to receive your monitoring plans in due time, please also send us a copy by fax at:
Fax no:    + 40 21 208 1572
              + 40 21 233 4062

We believe that it is in the best interests of the operator that suitable contact details are provided, as we will then be able to contact you during the approval process of your monitoring plans.

Therefore, please send us by email at dir.gen@caa.ro the following contact details of an appropriate person of your organisation who will be responsible for the monitoring and reporting requirements on your behalf:

Aircraft Operator Name:
Title:
First Name:
Surname:
Job Title:
Email Address:
Telephone Number:
Fax Number: