When conducting the comprehensive review (or ‘review’) referred to in Article 38(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999, the Commission and the European Environment Agency shall be assisted by a technical experts review team and follow the procedure set out in Annex XXII.

The European Environment Agency shall perform the secretarial tasks for the comprehensive reviews as specified in Annex XXII.

The Commission, assisted by the European Environment Agency, shall select a sufficient number of review experts to cover the appropriate inventory sectors. The review experts selected shall have experience in the area of greenhouse gas inventories compilation and, where possible, be active in greenhouse gas review processes. Technical experts who have contributed to the compilation of an individual Member State’s greenhouse gas inventory, or are national of that Member State, shall not take part in the review of that inventory.

The comprehensive reviews shall be carried out as desk-based and centralized reviews, as specified in Annex XXII. In addition, in-country visits may be organised upon recommendation of the technical experts review team and in consultation with the Member State concerned.

The checks pursuant to Article 38(2)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 shall include, where appropriate, information specified in Annex XXII.

The checks referred to in Article 38(2)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 shall include, where appropriate, a detailed examination on consistency of the accounted emissions and removals with Union rules.

The comprehensive reviews shall include, where appropriate, checks to identify whether areas of improvement identified for one Member State in the UNFCCC or Union reviews may also constitute an area of improvement for other Member States.

The review of greenhouse gas inventories shall be performed consistently for all Member States concerned and in an objective manner.

A technical correction of an emission estimate within the meaning of Article 38(2)(d) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 shall be deemed necessary if an underestimate or overestimate exceeds the threshold of significance established in paragraph 2 of this Article. Details of the technical corrections are specified in Annex XXII to this Regulation.

The threshold of significance for a given source or sink amounts to 0,05 % of a Member State’s total national greenhouse gas emissions without LULUCF for the year of the inventory under review, or 500 kt CO₂ equivalent, whichever is smaller.

In response to a finding by the Commission communicated to a Member State during the review, the Member State may request a change of their estimates of emissions or accounted emissions and removals by providing revised estimates. If a revised estimate is deemed appropriate by the technical review team, it shall be included in the review report referred to in Article 32 and accompanied by a justification.

Upon request by the Member States, the Commission shall include comments regarding the review findings in the final review report referred to in Article 32.

The Commission shall inform the Member States of the composition of the technical experts review team selected pursuant to Article 30.