Article 3e(3)(a) to (d) of Directive 2003/87/EC provides for a decision by the Commission, before the start of each trading period, fixing the total quantity of allowances to be created, auctioned, placed in the special reserve provided for in Article 3f(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC, and distributed for free to aircraft operators. These quantities are to be determined arithmetically from the figure on the historical aviation emissions which has been set by Commission Decision 2011/149/EU of 7 March 2011 on historical aviation emissions pursuant to Article 3c(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowances trading within the Community2, at 219 476 343 tonnes of CO₂.

Following its adaptation on incorporation into the EEA Agreement by Decision of the EEA Joint Committee No 6/2011 of 1 April 2011 amending Annex XX (Environment) to the EEA Agreement3, Article 3e(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC also provides for the calculation of EEA-wide quantities of allowances by the EEA Joint Committee when incorporating this Decision into the EEA Agreement.

Pursuant to Article 3e(3)(e) and the third subparagraph of Article 3f(5) of Directive 2003/87/EC (inserted on incorporation into the EEA Agreement), the Commission is to decide on the EEA-wide benchmark, which needs to be based on the EEA-wide quantities of allowances fixed by the EEA Joint Committee. Accordingly, a decision on the benchmark cannot be taken until the EEA-wide quantities have been fixed by the EEA Joint Committee,