| 19 Apr 2011: EU ETS Registries: Transitional measure to end on 20 April with the reinstatement of the national registry of Lithuania |
| 2011-04-20 |
| The national emissions registry of Lithuania will resume normal operations on 20 April 2011 at 3 pm CEST, bringing to an end the transitional measure imposed in January which suspended national EU ETS registries following cases of cyber crime. This decision follows completion by the Commission of its review of the report from the Lithuanian national registry on the adequacy of its security measures. With this report, Lithuania has given reasonable assurances that the minimum security requirements are in place. With the reinstatement of Lithuania, the ETS registries system fully returns to normal operations following the suspension from 19 January 2011 of transactions, except for the allocation and surrender of allowances, in all national registries. Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action said: `Following the criminal activities earlier this year, tightening the security of the registries system has been the top priority. I am glad to see that all registries are now up and running with enhanced security measures in place. Together with Member States and through a regular dialogue with stakeholders, we are working on a set of measures to further improve security on all fronts such as a delivery delay mechanism, improved management of registry accounts and detection and quick response mechanisms. With these measures and a more unified approach for the third phase of the ETS due to start in 2013, we have definitely strengthened the integrity of the European carbon market. And we will continue our intensified dialogue with relevant stakeholders on key implementation issues`. Background: The registries system, composed of the EU ETS registries and the Community Independent Transaction Log (CITL), is at the core of the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Operational since January 2005, the registries system ensures the accurate accounting of all allowances issued under the EU ETS and keeps track of the ownership of allowances in the same way as a banking system keeps track of the ownership of money. Those allowances are held in accounts in electronic registries administered by Member States (the EU ETS registries). The EU ETS consists of 30 registries. Each EU Member plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein has a national ETS registry. However, the Icelandic registry is not yet operational, since there is currently no ETS installation account in Iceland. The national registries of Cyprus and Malta are hosted by the European Commission. National registries are also used as Kyoto Protocol registries, except for Cyprus and Malta, who do not have targets under the first commitment period of the Protocol. As a party to the Kyoto Protocol, the EU-15 also has a registry, called the EU Registry. (The announcement is available here: http://ec.europa.eu/clima/news/index_en.htm) |
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