Commission Regulation (EU) No 920/2010 (repealed)Show full title

CHAPTER IV ACCOUNTS

SECTION 1 Provisions applicable to all accounts

Article 8 Accounts

1. The Union registry shall contain the accounts listed under the headings ‘II. Management accounts in the Union registry’ and ‘III. User accounts in the Union registry’ in Annex I.

2. The Union registry and every other KP registry shall contain the accounts listed under the heading ‘I. KP Party accounts in KP registries’ in Annex I.

3. The type of units that may be held by each account type are set out in Annex I, and the type of transactions that may be initiated or received by each account type are set out in Annex II.

Article 9 Account status

1. Accounts shall be in one of the following status: open, inactive, blocked or closed.

2. No processes may be initiated from blocked accounts, except for the surrendering of units, the entering of verified emissions, and the updating of account details.

3. No processes may be initiated from closed accounts. A closed account may not be re-opened, and may not receive any unit transfers.

Article 10 The administering of accounts

1. Every account shall have an administrator who is responsible for administering the account on behalf of a Member State or on behalf of the Union.

2. The administrator of an account is determined for each account type in the third column of Table I-1 in Annex I.

3. The administrator of an account shall have the responsibility to open, suspend access to or close an account, to approve authorised representatives, to permit such changes to account details that require the approval of the administrator, and to initiate transactions if this is requested by the account holder in accordance with Article 19(4).

4. User accounts shall be governed by the laws and fall under the jurisdiction of the Member State of their administrator and the units held in them shall be considered to be situated in that Member State's territory.

Article 11 Notifications from the administrators

The Central Administrator shall notify the holder and the administrator of a Union registry account of the initiation and completion or termination of any process related to the account through an automated mechanism described in the Data Exchange and Technical Specifications provided for in Article 71.

SECTION 2 Opening and updating of accounts

Article 12 Opening of KP Party accounts and management accounts

1. The Commission shall instruct the Central administrator to open the Union's KP Party accounts and all management accounts in the Union registry except the national allowance holding accounts.

2. The competent body of the Member State shall instruct the national administrator to open its national allowance holding account in the Union registry.

3. The instructions referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall contain the information set out in Annex III.

4. Within 20 working days of the instruction, the registry administrator or the Central administrator shall open the KP Party account or management account.

Article 13 Opening of person holding accounts in the Union registry

1. A request for the opening of a person holding account in the Union registry shall be submitted to the national administrator of a Member State. The person requesting the account opening shall provide the information required by the national administrator, which shall include at least the information set out in Annex IV.

2. The Member State of the national administrator may require that EU persons requesting the account opening have their permanent residence or registration in the Member State of the national administrator administering the account.

3. Within 20 working days of the receipt of a complete set of information required in accordance with paragraph 1 and 2 and after approving the required number of authorised representatives in accordance with Article 20 the national administrator shall open a person holding account in the Union registry or inform the person requesting the account opening that it refuses to open the account.

4. If the national administrator refused opening the account, the person requesting the account opening may object to this refusal with the competent authority or relevant authority under national law, who shall either instruct the national administrator to open the account or uphold the refusal in a reasoned decision. Reasons for refusing the opening of an account may be that the person requesting the account opening is under investigation for being involved in fraud involving allowances or Kyoto units, money laundering, terrorist financing or other serious crimes to which the account may be an instrument, or any other reason set out in national law.

Article 14 Opening of trading platform holding accounts in the Union registry

1. Trading platforms may submit a request for the opening of a trading platform holding account in the Union registry. This request shall be submitted to the national administrator of a Member State that allows the opening of trading platform holding accounts. The person requesting the account opening shall provide the information required by the national administrator, which shall include the information set out in Annex IV and in Annex V.

2. Trading platforms must conform to the technical requirements described in the Data Exchange and Technical Specifications provided for in Article 71. The Member State of the national administrator may require that EU persons requesting the account opening have their permanent residence or registration in the Member State of the national administrator administering the account.

3. Within 20 working days of the receipt of the complete information required in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 and after approving the required number of authorised representatives in accordance with Article 20 the national administrator shall open a trading platform holding account in the Union registry or inform the person requesting the account opening that it refuses to open the account.

4. If the national administrator refused opening the account, the person requesting the account opening may object to this refusal with the competent authority or the relevant authority under national law, who shall either instruct the national administrator to open the account or uphold the refusal in a reasoned decision. Reasons for refusing the opening of an account may be that the person requesting the account opening is under investigation for being involved in fraud involving allowances or Kyoto units, money laundering, terrorist financing or other serious crimes to which the account may be an instrument, or any other reason set out in national law.

Article 15 Opening of operator holding accounts in the Union registry

1. Within 20 working days of the entry into force of a greenhouse gas emissions permit for the operation of a new installation, the competent authority issuing the permit shall provide its Member State’s national administrator with the information set out in Annex VII, and the operator shall request the national administrator to open an operator holding account in the Union registry.

2. If the competent authority so decides, the information referred to in paragraph 1 above may also be provided by the operator to the national administrator within the deadline set out in paragraph 1.

3. Within 20 working days of the receipt of all the information referred to in paragraph 1 and after approving the required number of authorised representatives in accordance with Article 20 the national administrator shall open a separate operator holding account for each installation in the Union registry.

Article 16 Opening of aircraft operator holding accounts in the Union registry

1. Within 20 working days from the approval of the monitoring plan of an aircraft operator, or by 1 January 2012, whichever is the later, the competent authority shall provide its national administrator with the information set out in Annex VIII and the aircraft operator shall request the national administrator to open an aircraft operator holding account in the Union registry. Each aircraft operator shall have one aircraft operator holding account.

2. If the competent authority so decides, the information referred to in paragraph 1 above may also be provided by the operator to the national administrator within the deadline set out in paragraph 1.

3. Within 40 working days of the receipt of the information referred to in paragraph 1. and after approving the required number of authorised representatives in accordance with Article 20 the national administrator shall open a separate aircraft operator holding account for each aircraft operator in the Union registry.

Article 17 Opening of verifier accounts in the Union registry

1. A request for the opening of a verifier account in the Union registry shall be submitted to the national administrator. The person requesting the account opening shall provide the information required by the national administrator, which shall include the information set out in Annex IV and Annex V.

2. Within 20 working days of the receipt of all the information referred to in paragraph 1 and after approving the required number of authorised representatives in accordance with Article 20, the national administrator shall open the verifier account in the Union registry.

Article 18 Terms and conditions of account holding

This Article contains no provisions.

Article 19 Authorised representatives

1. Each account shall have at least two authorised representatives. The authorised representative shall initiate transactions and other processes on behalf of the account holder through the website of the registry.

2. The administrator of the account may allow accounts to have additional authorised representatives who may view the account or whose agreement is required in addition to the agreement of an authorised representative to submit a request to carry out any process.

3. The administrator of the account may allow holders of user accounts to enable their accounts to be accessed through a trading platform. Account holders enabling their account to be accessed through a trading platform shall nominate as authorised representative a person who is already the authorised representative of a trading platform holding account.

4. If the authorised representative has no access to the internet, he may also request the administrator of the account to initiate transactions on his behalf, provided that the administrator allows such requests and access was not suspended in accordance with Article 27.

5. The Data Exchange and Technical Specifications may set a maximum number of authorised representatives and additional authorised representatives for each account type. A national administrator may set a lower maximum for its account, but the minimum number of authorised representatives must be three.

6. Authorised representatives and additional authorised representatives must be natural persons over 18 years. All authorised representatives and additional authorised representatives of a single account must be different persons but the same person can be an authorised representative or an additional authorised representative on more than one account. The Member State of the national administrator may require that at least one of the authorised representatives of user accounts must be a permanent resident in the Member State of the national administrator administering the account.

Article 20 Nominating and approval of authorised representatives and additional authorised representatives

1. When requesting the opening of an account, the person requesting the account opening shall nominate at least two authorised representatives, and that person may nominate additional authorised representatives if this is permitted by the administrator of the account.

2. When nominating an authorised representative or additional authorised representative, the person requesting the account opening shall provide the information required by the administrator. That information shall include at least the documents and identification information on the nominee set out in Annex IX.

3. Within 20 working days of the receipt of a complete set of information required in accordance with paragraph 2 the national administrator shall approve an authorised representative or additional authorised representative, or inform the person requesting the account opening that it refuses to approve. Where evaluation of the nominee information requires more time, the administrator may once extend the evaluation process by up to 20 additional working days, and notify the extension to the person requesting the account opening.

4. If the national administrator refused to approve an authorised representative or additional authorised representative, the person requesting the account opening may object to this refusal with the competent authority or the relevant authority under national law, who shall either instruct the national administrator to give its approval or uphold the refusal in a reasoned decision. Reasons for refusing the approval may be that the person nominated as authorised representative or additional authorised representative is under investigation for being involved in fraud involving allowances or Kyoto units, money laundering, terrorist financing or other serious crimes to which the account may be an instrument, or any other reason set out in national law.

5. The authorised representative of the ETS central clearing account shall act as the authorised representative of the Central Administrator. The authorised representative of each national allowance holding account shall act as the authorised representative of the national administrator for the Member State holding the national allowance holding account.

Article 21 Updating of account information and information on authorised representatives

1. All account holders shall notify the administrator of the account within 10 working days of any changes to the information submitted for the opening of an account, and for the nomination of an authorised representative or additional authorised representative. Aircraft operators shall notify the administrator of their account within 10 working days if they have undergone a merger of two or more aircraft operators or if they have split into two or more aircraft operators. If the account holder was required to provide evidence for a particular piece of information upon opening the account or the nomination of an authorised representative or additional authorised representative, the notification of changes shall likewise be accompanied with the required evidence. Within 15 working days of the receipt of such a notification and the accompanying evidence, the administrator of the account shall update the information on the account holder or refuse updating and inform the account holder thereof. Objections to such refusals may be raised with the competent authority or the relevant authority under national law in accordance with Articles 13(4), 14(4) or 20(4).

2. The holder of a person holding account, a trading platform holding account, a verifier account or an aircraft operator holding account may not sell or divest of the ownership of its account to another person. The account holder of an operator holding account may only sell or divest of its operator holding account together with the installation linked to the operator holding account.

3. An authorised representative or additional authorised representative may not transfer its status as such to another person.

4. Any account holder may notify the recalling of authorised representatives, provided that there remain at least two authorised representatives. Within 10 working days of the receipt of such a notification, the responsible administrator shall remove the authorised representative.

5. Any account holder may nominate new authorised representatives or additional authorised representatives in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 20.

6. If the administering Member State of an aircraft operator changes in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 18a of Directive 2003/87/EC or due to the enlargement of the European Union the Central Administrator shall update the national administrator of the corresponding aircraft operator holding account. Where the administrator of an aircraft operator holding account changes, the new administrator may require the aircraft operator to submit the account opening information required by the new administrator in accordance with Article 16 and the information required by the new administrator about authorised representatives in accordance with Article 20.

7. Except for the exception provided for in paragraph 6 above, the Member State responsible for managing an account shall not change.

SECTION 3 Closure of accounts

Article 22 Closure of KP Party accounts, management accounts, person holding accounts and trading platform holding accounts

Within 10 working days of the receipt of a request from the account holder to close a KP Party account in the Union registry, a management account, a person holding account or a trading platform holding account administered by it, the administrator shall close the account.

Article 23 Closure of operator holding accounts

1. The competent authority shall notify the national administrator within 10 working days of a greenhouse gas emissions permit being revoked or surrendered for an installation that is, as a result, not covered by any such permit. The competent authority shall also notify the national administrator within 10 working days when it learns that an installation has closed without notifying the competent authority. Within 10 working days of being notified by the competent authority, the national administrator shall record in the Union registry the date on which the greenhouse gas emissions permit expires. Where an installation closes without the permit expiring, the date of closure notified by the competent authority shall be recorded as the permit expiry date.

2. The national administrator may close operator holding accounts by 30 June of the year after the year in which the permit expired if the relevant installation has surrendered an amount of allowances and Kyoto units at least equal to its verified emissions.

Article 24 Closure of aircraft operator holding accounts

Aircraft operator holding accounts shall only be closed by the national administrator if it was instructed by the competent authority to do so because the competent authority has discovered that the aircraft operator merged into another aircraft operator or the aircraft operator has permanently ceased all its operations covered by Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC, either through a notification by the account holder or through other evidence.

Article 25 Closure of verifier accounts

1. Within 10 working days of the receipt of a request from a verifier to close its account, the national administrator shall close the verifier account.

2. The competent authority may also instruct the national administrator to close a verifier account where one of the following conditions is fulfilled:

(a) the verifier's accreditation has expired or was withdrawn;

(b) the verifier ceased its operations.

Article 26 Positive balance on accounts under closure

1. If there is a positive balance of allowances or Kyoto units on an account which an administrator is to close in accordance with Articles 22 to 25 and 28, the administrator shall first request the account holder to specify another account administered by the same administrator to which such allowances or Kyoto units shall then be transferred. If the account holder has not responded to the administrator’s request within 40 working days, the administrator may transfer the allowances to its national allowance holding account in the Union registry and the Kyoto units to a KP Party holding account in its KP registry.

2. If there is a positive balance of allowances or Kyoto units on an account to which access was suspended in accordance with Article 27(3), the competent authority may require in its instruction in accordance with Article 28(1) that the allowances are moved immediately to the relevant national allowance holding account and the Kyoto units are moved immediately to the relevant KP Party holding account.

SECTION 4 Suspension of access to accounts

Article 27 Suspension of access to accounts

1. An administrator may suspend the access of an authorised representative or an additional authorised representative to any accounts in its registry or to processes to which that authorised representative would otherwise have access if the administrator knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that the authorised representative has:

(a) attempted to access accounts or processes which he is not authorised to access;

(b) repeatedly attempted to access an account or a process using a non-matching username and password; or

(c) attempted, or is attempting, to undermine the security of the registry or the registries system.

2. An administrator may suspend the access of all authorised representatives or additional authorised representatives to a specific account where one of the following conditions is fulfilled:

(a) the account holder died without a legal successor or ceased to exist as a legal person;

(b) the account holder did not pay its fees;

(c) the account holder violated the terms and conditions applicable to the account;

(d) the account holder did not agree to the changes in the terms and conditions set by the national administrator and the Central Administrator;

(e) the account holder did not provide evidence concerning the changes to account information, or evidence concerning new account information requirements;

(f) the account holder failed to maintain the required minimum number of authorised representatives for the account;

(g) the account holder failed to maintain compliance with the Member State requirement to have an authorised representative with a permanent residence in the Member State of the administrator of the account;

(h) the account holder failed to maintain compliance with the Member State requirement that the account holder have a permanent residence or registration in the Member State of the administrator of the account.

3. The national administrator may suspend access to a person holding account or a trading platform holding account if it considers that their opening should have been refused in accordance with Article 13(3) or Article 14(3).

4. The administrator of the account shall lift the suspension immediately once the situation giving rise to the suspension is resolved.

5. The account holder may object to the suspension of its access in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 3 with the competent authority or the relevant authority under national law within 30 calendar days, who shall either instruct the national administrator to reinstate access or uphold the suspension in a reasoned decision.

6. The competent authority, or in the case of accounts in the Union registry, the Central administrator may also instruct the administrator to implement a suspension.

7. When access to a trading platform holding account is suspended, the administrator shall also suspend access enabled for the trading platform to user accounts in accordance with Article 19(3). When access of authorised representatives and additional authorised representatives of a trading platform holding account is suspended, the administrator shall also suspend their access enabled for the trading platform to user accounts in accordance with Article 19(3).

8. Where the holder of an operator holding account or aircraft operator holding account is prevented from surrendering in the 10 working days preceding the surrender deadline laid down in Article 12(2a) and 12(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC due to suspensions in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2, the national administrator shall, if so requested by the account holder and following submission of the authorised representative's identity by means of supporting evidence, surrender the number of allowances and ERUs and CERs specified by the account holder.

Article 28 Closure of accounts and removal of authorised representative on the administrator's initiative

1. If the situation giving rise to the suspension of access to accounts pursuant to Article 27 is not resolved within a reasonable period despite repeated notifications, the competent authority may instruct the national administrator to close those person holding accounts or trading platform holding accounts where access is suspended.

2. If a person holding account has a zero balance and no transactions have been recorded during a year, the national administrator may notify the account holder that the person holding account will be closed within 40 working days unless the national administrator receives within that period a request from the account holder that the person holding account be maintained. If the national administrator does not receive any such request from the account holder, the national administrator may close the account.

3. The national administrator shall close any operator holding account when the competent authority has instructed the national administrator to close the account because there is no reasonable prospect of further allowances being surrendered by the installation’s operator.

4. The national administrator may remove an authorised representative or an additional authorised representative if it considers that the approval of the authorised representative or an additional authorised representative should have been refused in accordance with Article 20(3), and in particular if it discovers that the documents and identification information provided in upon nomination were fraudulent or erroneous.

5. The account holder may object to the closure of its account in accordance with paragraph 1 or the removal of its authorised representative or additional authorised representative in accordance with paragraph 4 with the competent authority within 30 calendar days, who shall either instruct the national administrator to reinstate the account or the authorised representative or additional authorised representative or uphold the closure or removal in a reasoned decision.