The Aviation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2009

PART 1General

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Aviation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2009 and come into force on 17th September 2009.

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations—

“additional daily penalty” has the meaning given by regulation 21(1)(b);

“address” means, in relation to electronic communications, any number or address used for the purpose of such communication;

“affected party” has the meaning given by paragraph 8(a) of Schedule 2;

“aircraft operator” has the meaning given by regulation 3;

“allowance” means an allowance issued to aircraft operators under Article 3e of the EU ETS Directive;

“appeal body” has the meaning given by regulation 36(6);

“area”, in relation to a regulator, means—

“authority” has the meaning given by regulation 7;

“aviation activity” means the category of aviation activity listed in Annex I to the EU ETS Directive but with the reference to 1st January 2012 omitted;

“aviation emissions” means emissions from an aviation activity;

“benchmarking plan” means a plan issued under regulation 10(1)(a);

“chief inspector” means the chief inspector constituted under regulation 8(3) of the Northern Ireland Regulations;

“Commission list” means the list of operators specified in Commission Regulation (EC) No 748/2009 on the list of aircraft operators which performed an aviation activity listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC on or after 1 January 2006 specifying the administering Member State for each aircraft operator(1), as amended from time to time;

“electronic communication” has the same meaning as in the Electronic Communications Act 2000(2);

“emissions” means the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere;

“emissions plan” means a plan issued under regulation 15;

“EU ETS Directive” means Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emissions allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC(3), as amended from time to time;

“greenhouse gases” has the meaning given by Article 3(c) of the EU ETS Directive;

“independent verifier” means a person or body accredited or endorsed by UKAS to carry out the verification requirements of Article 15 of the EU ETS Directive;

“interested party” has the meaning given by paragraph 8(b) of Schedule 2;

“Monitoring and Reporting Decision” means Commission Decision 2007/589/EC establishing guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(4), as amended from time to time;

“Northern Ireland Regulations” means the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003(5);

“Planning Appeals Commission” means the Planning Appeals Commission established under Article 110 of the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991(6);

“registered office” means the address that is required under section 86 of the Companies Act 2006(7);

“regulator” has the meaning given by regulations 4, 5 and 6;

“tonne-kilometre data” has the meaning given by Part B of Annex IV to the EU ETS Directive;

“trading period” means one of the following periods—

“UK operator” means a person who is—

“UKAS” means the United Kingdom Accreditation Service(8).

Aircraft operator

3.  A person is an “aircraft operator” in relation to each calendar year from 1st January 2009 where in respect of that calendar year that person—

(a)is a UK operator; and

(b)performs an aviation activity.

Regulator: general

4.  Subject to regulations 5 and 6, the regulator of a UK operator is—

(a)the Environment Agency, where the UK operator—

(i)has its registered office in England or Wales; or

(ii)does not have a registered office in the United Kingdom;

(b)the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, where the UK operator has its registered office in Scotland;

(c)the chief inspector, where the UK operator has its registered office in Northern Ireland.

Regulator: assessment of emissions

5.—(1) Where the regulator is satisfied that the relevant data is available to it, the regulator (“A”) must—

(a)assess whether the highest percentage of aviation emissions of an aircraft operator without a registered office in the United Kingdom (“B”) are attributable to the area of a different regulator (“C”);

(b)do so by 14th December in the final year of each trading period; and

(c)make this assessment taking into account data from the trading period to the date of the assessment.

(2) Where that assessment shows that the highest percentage of emissions is attributable to the area of C, A must give notice to B and C by 21st December in the final year of the trading period.

(3) Where—

(a)A has given notice under paragraph (2); and

(b)the regulator for the trading period following that notice is not determined under regulation 6,

C is the regulator of B from the beginning of that trading period.

Regulator: registered office changes

6.—(1) Where—

(a)a UK operator changes its registered office to the area of a different regulator (“A”); and

(b)the UK operator gives notice of the change to A and its existing regulator,

A is the regulator of the UK operator from the beginning of the trading period following the service of the notice.

(2) Where—

(a)a UK operator which did not have a registered office in the United Kingdom acquires such a registered office;

(b)that registered office is in the area of a regulator (“A”) that is not the regulator (“B”) of the UK operator in the trading period; and

(c)the UK operator gives notice of the acquisition to A and B,

A is the regulator of the UK operator from the beginning of the trading period following the service of the notice.

Authority

7.  In regulations 21, 38 and 39 the authority is—

(a)the Welsh Ministers, where the UK operator—

(i)has its registered office in Wales; and

(ii)is regulated by the Environment Agency;

(b)the Scottish Ministers, where the regulator is the Scottish Environment Protection Agency;

(c)the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment, where the regulator is the chief inspector;

(d)otherwise, the Secretary of State.