The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved

2012 No. 3038

Climate Change

The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012

Made 5th December 2012

Laid before Parliament 10th December 2012

Coming into force 1st January 2013

The Secretary of State is a Minister designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to the environment.

In accordance with section 2(4) of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 (“the 1999 Act”)3, the Secretary of State has consulted the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and such bodies or persons appearing to the Secretary of State to be representative of the interests of local government, industry, agriculture and small businesses, and such other bodies and persons, as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

These Regulations make provision for a purpose mentioned in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972, and it appears to the Secretary of State that it is expedient for the references to EU instruments in these Regulations to be construed as references to those instruments as amended from time to time.

Accordingly the Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 2 and 7(9) of and Schedule 1 to the 1999 Act4and by section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972, as read with paragraph 1A of Schedule 2 to the European Communities Act 19725, makes the following Regulations6:

1 General

PART 1

General

S-1 Citation and commencement

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012 and come into force on 1st January 2013.

S-2 Duty to review these Regulations

Duty to review these Regulations

2.—(1) The Secretary of State must from time to time—

(a)

(a) carry out a review of these Regulations;

(b)

(b) set out the conclusions of the review in a report; and

(c)

(c) publish the report.

(2) In carrying out the review the Secretary of State must, so far as is reasonable, have regard to how the Directive, and measures adopted under it by the European Commission, are implemented in other member States.

(3) The report must in particular—

(a)

(a) set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory system established by these Regulations;

(b)

(b) assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved; and

(c)

(c) assess whether those objectives remain appropriate and, if so, the extent to which they could be achieved with a system that imposes less regulation.

(4) The first report under this regulation must be published before the end of the period of five years beginning with the day on which these Regulations come into force.

(5) Reports under this regulation are afterwards to be published at intervals not exceeding five years.

S-3 Interpretation

Interpretation

3.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the 2005 Regulations” means the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 20057;

“the 2010 Regulations” means the Aviation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 20108;

“allocation”, in relation to an allowance, means allocation free of charge in accordance with Chapter 1 or 2 of the Directive;

“allowance”—

(a) in this regulation, has the meaning given in Article 3(a) of the Directive, but

(b) otherwise (and subject to regulations 54(7) and 82(1)) means an allowance other than an aviation allowance;

“annual reportable emissions” means the reportable emissions arising in any scheme year;

“authority” means—

(a) in relation to an installation which is (or will be) situated in England or an offshore installation, the Secretary of State;

(b) in relation to an installation, other than an offshore installation, which is (or will be) situated in—

(i) Scotland, the Scottish Ministers;

(ii) Wales, the Welsh Ministers;

(iii) Northern Ireland, the Department of the Environment;

(c) in relation to a UK administered operator, the authority defined in regulation 20;

(d) in relation to a banned non-UK operator, the Secretary of State;

“aviation activity” means an aviation activity listed in Annex 1 to the Directive;

“aviation allowance” means any allowance allocated in accordance with Article 3e or 3f of the Directive or auctioned in accordance with Article 3d of the Directive;

“aviation emissions” means emissions, arising from an aviation activity, of gases specified in respect of that activity by Annex 1 to the Directive;

“aviation emissions plan” means an emissions plan as defined by regulation 20;

“banned non-UK operator” means a person on whom an operating ban has been imposed under Article 16(10) of the Directive and who is not a UK administered operator;

“bioliquids” has the meaning given in Article 2(h) of the Renewable Energy Directive;

“cease operation”, in relation to an installation, has the meaning given in paragraph (3);

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

“current operator” has the meaning given by regulation 12(1);

“the Directive” means Directive 2003/87/ECof 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/EC9, as amended from time to time and as adapted by Annex 20 to the EEA agreement10;

“duly made”, in relation to an application, means made in accordance with the requirements of these Regulations;

“emissions” has the meaning given in Article 3(b) of the Directive;

“excluded installation” means an installation the exclusion of which is deemed to be approved by the European Commission under the first sub-paragraph of Article 27(2) of the Directive, unless a notice has been given to the operator under paragraph 8(1) or (4) or paragraph 9(1) of Schedule 5 (in which case the installation ceases to be an excluded installation as from the date specified in the notice);

“excluded installation emissions permit” means a permit—

(a) granted following an application under regulation 10(2), or

(b) which results from a variation under paragraph 2 of Schedule 5;

“fee”, in relation to any matter, means the fee or charge prescribed in respect of that matter by a scheme, or regulations, made under—

(a) regulation 18;

(b) section 41A of the Environment Act 199511;

(c) regulation 4 of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Charging Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 201012; or

(d) Article 127 of the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 199113;

“the Free Allocation Decision” means Commission Decision 2011/278/EU of 27 April 2011 determining transitional Union-wide rules for harmonised free allocation of emission allowances pursuant to Article 10a of Directive 2003/87/EC14;

“greenhouse gas emissions permit” means a permit granted following an application under—

(a) regulation 10(1); or

(b) regulation 8 of the 2005 Regulations;

“installation” has the meaning given in Article 3(e) of the Directive (and references to an “installation” include a reference to a part of an installation);

“KP registry administrator” has the meaning given by regulation 81(1);

“monitoring and reporting conditions” has the meaning given by paragraph 3(8) of Schedule 5;

“monitoring and reporting requirements” has the meaning given by paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 4;

“the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation” means Commission Regulation (EU) No 601/2012 of 21 June 2012 on the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Directive 2003/87/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council15, as amended from time to time;

“new operator” has the meaning given by regulation 12(1);

“Northern Ireland Regulations” means the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations (Northern Ireland) 200316;

“notice of surrender” has the meaning given in regulation 13(7);

“offshore installation” means—

(a) an offshore petroleum installation; or

(b) an offshore storage or unloading installation;

“offshore petroleum installation” means an installation which—

(a) is used for purposes connected with the exploration for, or exploitation of, petroleum (within the meaning of section 1 of the Petroleum Act 199817); and

(b) is, or will be, situated in the area (together with places above and below it) comprising—

(i) those parts of the sea adjacent to England and Wales from the low water mark to the landward baseline of the United Kingdom territorial sea;

(ii) the United Kingdom territorial sea apart from those areas comprised in any controlled waters within the meaning of section 30A(1) of the Control of Pollution Act 197418; and

(iii) those areas of sea in any area for the time being designated under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 196419;

“the Offshore Regulations” means the Offshore Combustion Installations (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Regulations 200120;

“offshore storage or unloading installation” means an installation which—

(a) is used for purposes connected with an activity within section 2(3) or section 17(2) of the Energy Act 200821; and

(b) is, or will be, situated in the area (together with places above and below it) comprising—

(i) those parts of the sea adjacent to England from the low water mark to the landward baseline of the United Kingdom territorial sea;

(ii) the United Kingdom territorial sea, other than the territorial sea adjacent to Scotland or Wales; and

(iii) those areas of sea in a Gas Importation and Storage Zone (within the meaning of section 1(5) of that Act22);

“operator”, in relation to an installation, has the meaning given in paragraph (2) (and “operate” has the corresponding meaning);

“partial transfer” has the meaning given by regulation 12(2);

“permit” (except in paragraph 1(2)(b) of Schedule 4 and paragraph 7(12) of Schedule 6) means—

(a) a greenhouse gas emissions permit; or

(b) an excluded installation emissions permit;

“the Planning Appeals Commission” means the Planning Appeals Commission established under article 110 of the Planning (Northern Ireland)...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT