Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067Show full title

Article 7 General obligations of the verifier

1. The verifier shall carry out the verification and the activities required by this Chapter with the aim of providing a verification report that concludes with reasonable assurance that the operator's or aircraft operator's report is free from material misstatements.

2. The verifier shall plan and perform the verification with an attitude of professional scepticism, recognising that circumstances may exist that cause the information in the operator's or aircraft operator's report to contain material misstatements.

3. The verifier must carry out verification in the public interest, and be independent of the operator or aircraft operator and the competent authorities responsible for Directive 2003/87/EC.

4. During the verification, the verifier shall assess whether:

(a) the operator's or aircraft operator's report is complete and meets the requirements laid down in Annex X to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 or in Annex IV to Delegated Regulation (EU) …/…, as appropriate;

(b) the operator or aircraft operator has acted in compliance with the requirements of the greenhouse gas emissions permit and the monitoring plan approved by the competent authority, where the verification of an operator's emission report is concerned, and with the requirements of the monitoring plan approved by the competent authority, where the verification of an aircraft operator's emission or tonne-kilometre report is concerned;

(c) where the verification of an operator's baseline data report or new entrant data report is concerned, the operator has acted in conformance with the requirements of the monitoring methodology plan pursuant to Article 8 of Delegated Regulation (EU) …/… approved by the competent authority;

(d) the data in the operator's or aircraft operator's report are free from material misstatements;

(e) information can be provided in support of the operator's or aircraft operator's data flow activities, control system and associated procedures to improve the performance of their monitoring and reporting.

By way of derogation from point (c), the verifier shall assess whether the operator's monitoring methodology plan is in compliance with the requirements of Delegated Regulation (EU) …/… where the monitoring methodology plan is not subject to approval of the competent authority prior to submission of the baseline data report. If the verifier discovers that a monitoring methodology plan does not comply with Delegated Regulation (EU) …/…, the operator shall modify the monitoring methodology plan so that it complies with that Regulation.

For the purpose of point (d) of this paragraph, the verifier shall obtain clear and objective evidence from the operator or aircraft operator to support the reported aggregated emissions, tonne-kilometres or data relevant for free allocation taking into account all other information provided in the operator's or aircraft operator's report.

5. If the verifier discovers that an operator or an aircraft operator is not complying with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 or with Delegated Regulation (EU) …/…, that irregularity shall be included in the verification report even if the monitoring plan or monitoring methodology plan concerned, as appropriate, has been approved by the competent authority.

6. If the monitoring plan has not been approved by the competent authority pursuant to Article 12 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066, is incomplete or if significant modifications referred to in Article 15(3) or (4) of that Implementing Regulation have been made during the reporting period which have not been accordingly approved by the competent authority, the verifier shall advise the operator or aircraft operator to obtain the necessary approval from the competent authority.

If the monitoring methodology plan is subject to the approval of the competent authority prior to submission of the baseline data report pursuant to Article 8(4) of Delegated Regulation (EU) …/… and the monitoring methodology plan has not been approved or is incomplete, or where significant modifications referred to in Article 9(5) of that Regulation have been made which have not been approved by the competent authority, the verifier shall advise the operator to obtain the necessary approval from the competent authority.

Following the approval by the competent authority, the verifier shall continue, repeat or adapt the verification activities accordingly.

If the approval has not been obtained before the issue of the verification report, the verifier shall report this in the verification report.