The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012

Failure to surrender allowances U.K.

54.—(1) A person (“P”) is liable to the civil penalty in paragraph (2) where P fails to surrender sufficient allowances, contrary to regulation 41 or [F1 regulation 42A] .

(2) The civil penalty (“excess emissions penalty”) is the sterling equivalent of 100 Euros for each allowance that P failed so to surrender.

(3) But paragraph (1) is subject to paragraphs (4) to (6).

(4) Where paragraph (5) applies, P is not liable to the excess emissions penalty for a failure to surrender allowances in respect of those reportable emissions in a scheme year that—

(a) were not reported in the verified emissions report submitted for that year, but

(b) have been determined by the regulator following a request under paragraph (5)(b).

(5) This paragraph applies where P, before the regulator serves on P a penalty notice imposing an excess emissions penalty in respect of emissions in that scheme year (or a notice of the regulator's intention to do so)—

(a) notifies the regulator that there are annual reportable emissions not included in the report that has been submitted for that year,

(b) requests the regulator to make a determination of the annual reportable emissions for that year, and

(c) has surrendered allowances equal to the reportable emissions as so determined.

(6) Where paragraph (5) applies, P is liable to the civil penalty of the sterling equivalent of 20 Euros for each allowance that P failed to surrender in respect of the unreported emissions by the relevant date.

(7) In this regulation—

(a) “allowance”, where P is a UK aircraft operator, includes an aviation allowance;

[F2 (b) “relevant date” means—

(i) if the scheme year mentioned in paragraph (4) is the scheme year 2018, 15th March 2019; or

(ii) if the scheme year mentioned in paragraph (4) is any other scheme year, 30th April in the year following that scheme year;]

(c) “unreported emissions” means the emissions mentioned in paragraph (4);

(d) “sterling equivalent” means, subject to paragraph (8), the sterling equivalent converted by reference to the applicable rate of conversion; and

(e) for that purpose the applicable rate is the first rate of conversion to be published in September of the year preceding the scheme year in which P is liable to the penalty in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union, adjusted in accordance with paragraph (8).

(8) If the last Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices for the member States of the European Union (“HICP”) published by Eurostat before the end of April in the year in which P failed to surrender the allowances shows an average percentage price increase as compared with the last HICP published before the end of April 2012, the sterling equivalent is increased by the same percentage.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 54(1) substituted (22.12.2014) by The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/3125), regs. 1(1), 14

F2 Reg. 54(7)(b) substituted (27.12.2017) by The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/1207), regs. 1, 2(4)