The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012

Regulations 10, 12, 13 and 14

SCHEDULE 4 U.K. Permits

Applications for permits U.K.

1.—(1) An application for a permit must contain—

(a) as well as the address for service required under Schedule 3, any address to which correspondence relating to the application should be sent; and (if the applicant is a body corporate)—

(i) its registered number and the postal address of its registered or principal office, and

(ii) if that body corporate is a subsidiary of a holding company within the meaning of section 1159 of the Companies Act 2006 F1 , the name of the holding company (other than a holding company which is itself a subsidiary) and the postal address of its registered or principal office;

(b) in relation to the site of the installation—

(i) the postal address and national grid reference of the site (or equivalent information identifying the installation and its location);

(ii) a description of the site and the location of the installation on it; and

(iii) the name of any local authority in whose area the site is situated;

(c) a description of the installation, including a description of—

(i) the regulated activities to be carried out at the installation and the specified emissions from those activities; and

(ii) any directly associated activities (within Article 3(e) of the Directive) that are also to be carried out;

(d) a description of the raw and auxiliary materials used in carrying out regulated activities in the installation, the use of which is likely to lead to specified emissions;

(e) a description of the sources of specified emissions from the regulated activities carried out in the installation;

(f) a monitoring plan submitted under Article 12 of the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation, together with—

(i) the supporting documents under Article 12(1) of that Regulation;

(ii) the summary of a procedure ensuring fulfilment of the requirements referred to in Article 12(3)(a) and (b) of that Regulation; and

(iii) the uncertainty assessment carried out under Article 28(1)(a) of that Regulation;

(g) a description, including the reference number, of any environmental licence issued in relation to the installation;

(h) any additional information which the applicant wishes the regulator to take into account in considering the application; and

(i) a non-technical summary of the information referred to in paragraphs (c) to (h).

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(g), “environmental licence” means—

(a) an authorisation under Part 1 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 F2 or the Industrial Pollution Control (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 F3 ; or

(b) a permit under—

(i) the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 F4 ;

(ii) the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 F5 ;

(iii) the Offshore Regulations; or

(iv) the Northern Ireland Regulations.

(3) Where an application is for a permit in respect of more than one installation, the application must contain the information required by sub-paragraph (1) in respect of each installation.

Textual Amendments

F1 2006 c. 46.

F2 1990 c. 43.

F3 1997 No. 2777 (N.I. 18).

F4 S.I. 2010/675; the Regulations have been amended a number of times, most recently by S.I. 2012/630.

F5 S.S.I. 2000/323; the Regulations have been amended a number of times, most recently by S.S.I. 2011/265.

Content of a greenhouse gas emissions permit U.K.

2.—(1) A greenhouse gas emissions permit granted under regulation 10 must contain—

(a) the name and postal address in the United Kingdom (including postcode) of the operator;

(b) the postal address and national grid reference of the installation (or equivalent information identifying the installation and its location);

(c) a description of the installation, including—

(i) the regulated activities to be carried out at the installation and the specified emissions from those activities; and

(ii) any directly associated activities (within Article 3(e) of the Directive) that are also to be carried out;

(d) a description of the site and the location of the installation on that site; and

(e) as defined below—

(i) the monitoring plan;

(ii) the monitoring and reporting requirements;

(iii) the surrender requirements; and

(iv) the supplementary requirements.

(2) The monitoring plan is the plan approved in accordance with Articles 11 to 13 of the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation.

(3) The monitoring and reporting requirements are—

(a) a requirement to monitor the annual reportable emissions of the installation in accordance with—

(i) the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation; and

(ii) the monitoring plan (including the written procedures supplementing that plan);

(b) a requirement to prepare, for each scheme year, a verified report of those emissions in accordance with the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation and the Verification Regulation, and to submit that report to the regulator by 31st March in the following year;

(c) a requirement to satisfy the regulator, if an emission factor of zero has been reported in respect of the use of bioliquids, that the sustainability criteria set out in Article 17(2) to (5) of the Renewable Energy Directive have been fulfilled in accordance with Article 18(1) of that Directive; and

(d) any further conditions that the regulator considers necessary to give proper effect to the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation or the Verification Regulation.

(4) The surrender requirements are conditions obliging the operator to surrender, by the 30th April following a scheme year, a number of allowances equal to the annual reportable emissions of the installation in that scheme year.

(5) For the purposes of the surrender requirements the amount of the annual reportable emissions of the installation in a recovery year is deemed to be increased by an amount equal to the amount of annual reportable emissions, arising in the non-compliance year, in respect of which the operator failed to comply with the surrender requirements.

(6) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (5)—

(a) a “non-compliance year” is a scheme year in respect of which an operator fails to comply with the surrender requirements; and

(b) the “recovery year” is—

(i) the scheme year following the non-compliance year; or

(ii) where the non-compliance results from an error in the verified emissions report submitted by the operator, the scheme year in which the error is discovered.

(7) The supplementary requirements are—

(a) notification requirements corresponding to the requirements in paragraphs 6(2) and 8(4)(a) and (5) of Schedule 6 (except in the case of the installations mentioned in paragraph 1(3)(b) of that Schedule);

(b) any other conditions that the regulator considers necessary to ensure that the operator notifies the regulator of any planned or effective changes to the capacity, activity level or operation of the installation, by 31st December in the year in which the change was planned or has occurred; and

(c) any other conditions that the regulator considers appropriate to include in the permit.

Transfer of permits U.K.

3.—(1) An application under regulation 12 must—

(a) contain the information mentioned in sub-paragraph (3); and

(b) identify the installations, or parts of an installation, to which the application relates (“the transferred units”) and the regulated activities authorised to be carried out at them (“the transferred activities”).

(2) In the case of a partial transfer—

(a) the application must also state—

(i) the amount of allowances that are to be transferred to the transferred units; and

(ii) the initial installed capacity of all sub-installations to which the permit relates, identifying those that correspond to the transferred units; and

(b) the application may not be granted unless the regulator is satisfied that—

(i) the amount mentioned in paragraph (a)(i) reflects the historical activity levels of the transferred units, calculated in accordance with Article 9 of the Free Allocation Decision; and

(ii) the capacities mentioned in paragraph (a)(ii) have been calculated in accordance with Article 7(3) of the Free Allocation Decision.

(3) The information referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(a) is—

(a) in relation to each applicant, as well as the address for service required under Schedule 3 any address to which correspondence relating to the application should be sent;

(b) in relation to the new operator, the information mentioned in paragraph 1(1)(a)(i) and (ii); and

(c) a monitoring plan and other information mentioned in paragraph 1(1)(f) submitted by the new operator, or a specification by that operator of the parts of the existing monitoring plan that it is proposed should be varied and any necessary corresponding updating of that information.

(4) Where the application relates to a partial transfer, a transfer of the permit is effected by the regulator giving notice—

(a) granting a permit to the new operator (“the new permit”) which—

(i) authorises the carrying out of the transferred activities;

(ii) identifies the transferred units at which they may be carried out; and

(iii) includes such other provisions as the regulator (subject to sub-paragraph (5)) considers appropriate; and

(b) making such corresponding variations to the provisions of the permit held by the current operator (“the original permit”) as the regulator (subject to sub-paragraph (5)) considers appropriate.

(5) In exercising the powers given by sub-paragraph (4)(a)(iii) and (b), the regulator must ensure that the conditions of the new permit, or the original permit as varied, are (so far as relevant) the same as the conditions that were included in the original permit, subject to such modifications as in the opinion of the regulator are necessary to take account of the transfer.

(6) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) the new permit, and the variations of the original permit, have effect from a date agreed with the applicants and specified in the new permit and in the original permit as so varied.

(7) Where the application does not relate to a partial transfer, the transfer of the permit is effected by the regulator giving notice varying the permit so that it includes—

(a) the name and other particulars of the new operator;

(b) the date referred to in sub-paragraph (8); and

(c) such variations to the monitoring plan as the regulator considers appropriate.

(8) From a date agreed with the applicants, the new operator is to be treated as the holder of the permit as varied under sub-paragraph (7).

(9) If the new operator already holds a permit (an “existing permit”) for an installation that is on the same site as the transferred unit the regulator may effect a transfer within sub-paragraph (7) by—

(a) giving notice of such variations to the existing permit as in the opinion of the regulator are necessary to take account of the transfer; and

(b) cancelling the permit held by the current operator.

(10) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (9)—

(a) the variations of the existing permit have effect from a date agreed with the applicants and specified in the existing permit as so varied; and

(b) the cancelled permit ceases to have effect on that date.

(11) A regulator who effects the transfer of a permit in accordance with this paragraph must notify the registry administrator of the transfer.

(12) Upon receipt of a notice under sub-paragraph (11) the registry administrator must carry out any necessary changes to the national allocation table pursuant to [F6 Article 52(1)(c) or (d) of the Registries Regulation 2013].

Textual Amendments

F6 Words in Sch. 4 para. 3(12) substituted (31.1.2014) by The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme and National Emissions Inventory (Amendment) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/3135), regs. 1, 5(12)

Surrender of permits U.K.

4.—(1) The notice of surrender must require the operator, in relation to the scheme year in which it takes effect (“ the relevant year”), to—

(a) submit to the regulator by a date specified in the notice a report (“the surrender report”) specifying the reportable emissions from the beginning of the relevant year until the date on which the notice takes effect;

(b) ensure that the surrender report is prepared and verified in accordance with the monitoring and reporting requirements of the greenhouse gas emissions permit to which the application to surrender relates (“the permit”); and

(c) by a date specified in the notice, surrender allowances equal to—

(i) the reportable emissions specified in the surrender report;

(ii) where an operator has failed to comply with the surrender requirements of the permit imposed in respect of the last scheme year for which the date for surrendering allowances in accordance with those requirements has passed, the annual reportable emissions in respect of which the operator failed so to comply;

(iii) where the notice of surrender is served in a scheme year in which an error in the report submitted by an operator under the monitoring and reporting requirements in relation to any earlier scheme year has been discovered, the annual reportable emissions in respect of which, as a result of that error, the operator failed to comply with the surrender requirements of the permit in respect of the scheme year to which the error relates; and

(iv) where an operator has failed to comply with regulation 13(2), the total number of allowances which by the date on which the notice of surrender is served have been issued in respect of the installation which would not have been issued if the operator had so complied.

(2) From the date on which the notice of surrender takes effect—

(a) the permit ceases to have effect to authorise the carrying out of a regulated activity or to require the monitoring of emissions; but

(b) any conditions of the permit continue to have effect so far as they are not superseded by the requirements of that notice in accordance with sub-paragraphs (5) to (7) until the regulator certifies—

(i) that those requirements and any surrender requirements of the permit have been complied with, or

(ii) that there is no reasonable prospect of further allowances being surrendered by the operator in respect of the installation to which the notice relates.

(3) From the scheme year following the relevant year, for the purposes of assessing compliance with any surrender requirements of the permit the amount of reportable emissions of the installation (before any increase in accordance with paragraph 2(5)) is deemed to be zero.

(4) Where the regulator certifies in accordance with sub-paragraph (2)(b)(ii) that there is no reasonable prospect of further allowances being surrendered by the operator, the regulator must notify the registry administrator.

(5) The requirements specified in a notice of surrender pursuant to sub-paragraph (1)(a) and (b) are to be treated as if they were monitoring and reporting requirements of the permit.

(6) Subject to paragraph (7), the requirements specified in a notice of surrender pursuant to sub-paragraph (1)(c) are to be treated as if—

(a) they were surrender requirements of the permit, and

(b) the number of allowances required to be surrendered by the notice of surrender were the annual reportable emissions of the installation in respect of the scheme year to which the notice relates.

(7) Where the surrender report understates any reportable emissions, the requirement to surrender allowances equal to the amount of the understatement is not superseded by the requirements specified in the notice of surrender.

(8) Where the operator fails to comply with the requirements of a notice of surrender included pursuant to sub-paragraph (1), the regulator must notify the registry administrator.

Revocation of permits U.K.

5.—(1) The revocation notice must require the operator, in relation to the scheme year in which it takes effect (“ the relevant year”), to—

(a) submit to the regulator by a date specified in the notice a report (“the revocation report”) specifying the reportable emissions from the beginning of the relevant year until the date on which the notice takes effect;

(b) ensure that the revocation report is prepared and verified in accordance with the monitoring and reporting requirements of the greenhouse gas emissions permit to which the revocation notice relates (“the permit”); and

(c) by a date specified in the notice, surrender allowances equal to—

(i) the reportable emissions specified in the revocation report;

(ii) where an operator has failed to comply with the surrender requirements of the permit imposed in respect of the last scheme year for which the date for surrendering allowances in accordance with those requirements has passed, the annual reportable emissions in respect of which the operator failed so to comply;

(iii) where the revocation notice is served in a scheme year in which an error in the report submitted by an operator under the monitoring and reporting requirements in relation to any earlier scheme year has been discovered, the annual reportable emissions in respect of which, as a result of that error, the operator failed to comply with the surrender requirements of the permit in respect of the scheme year to which the error relates; and

(iv) where the notice has been served under regulation 14(1)(b), the total number of allowances which by the date on which the revocation notice is served have been issued in respect of the installation which would not have been issued if the operator had so complied.

(2) A revocation notice must specify a period within which the fee for the revocation of the permit must be paid.

(3) From the date on which the revocation notice takes effect—

(a) the permit ceases to have effect to authorise the carrying out of a regulated activity or to require the monitoring of emissions; but

(b) any conditions of the permit continue to have effect so far as they are not superseded by the requirements of that notice in accordance with sub-paragraphs (6) to (8) until the regulator certifies—

(i) that those requirements and any surrender requirements of the permit imposed have been complied with, or

(ii) that there is no reasonable prospect of further allowances being surrendered by the operator in respect of the installation to which the notice relates.

(4) From the scheme year following the relevant year, for the purposes of assessing compliance with the surrender requirements of the permit the amount of reportable emissions of the installation (before any increase in accordance with paragraph 2(5)) is deemed to be zero.

(5) Where the regulator certifies in accordance with sub-paragraph (3)(b)(ii) that there is no reasonable prospect of further allowances being surrendered by the operator, the regulator must notify the registry administrator.

(6) The requirements specified in a revocation notice pursuant to sub-paragraph (1)(a) and (b) are to be treated as if they were monitoring and reporting requirements of the permit.

(7) Subject to paragraph (8), the requirements specified in a revocation notice pursuant to sub-paragraph (1)(c) are to be treated as if—

(a) they were surrender requirements of the permit, and

(b) the number of allowances required to be surrendered by the revocation notice were the annual reportable emissions of the installation in respect of the scheme year to which the notice relates.

(8) Where the revocation report understates any reportable emissions, the requirement to surrender allowances equal to the amount of the understatement is not superseded by the requirements specified in the revocation notice.

(9) Where the operator fails to comply with the requirements of a revocation notice included pursuant to sub-paragraph (1), the regulator must notify the registry administrator.

(10) A regulator who has served a revocation notice may, at any time before the date on which it takes effect, withdraw the notice.