Extension of the EU ETS for aviation to EEA EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway)

The EEA EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) have been part of the EU ETS since October 2007, when the EU ETS Directive (2003/87/EC) was incorporated into the EEA Agreement.

With the Aviation Directive (2008/101/EC) aviation activities were included in the EU ETS from 1 January 2012. The EU and the EEA EFTA States consider the Aviation Directive EEA relevant and will therefore incorporate it into the EEA Agreement. It will consequently become legally binding for the EEA EFTA States.

EEA additional flights

The extension of the scheme entails that in addition to the 27 EU Member States the EEA EFTA States will henceforward also be covered by the EU ETS. As a result, flights which depart from or arrive in an aerodrome situated in the territory of an EEA EFTA State, collectively called ‘EEA additional flights’, will be subject to EU ETS rules. EEA additional flights are:

• Domestic flights within the EEA EFTA States
• Flights between the EEA EFTA States
• Flights between the EEA EFTA States and third countries outside the EEA

The list of exemptions from the scope of the EU ETS in Annex I of the Aviation Directive also applies for the EEA additional flights.

Impact on aircraft operators

Aircraft operators which are already covered by the EU ETS will only be affected by the extension of the system if they perform EEA additional flighs, cf. above. These operators will from now on have to include their EEA additional flights into their monitoring and reporting activities. They will thus have to start monitoring annual emissions and tonne-kilometre data related to EEA additional flights from 1 January 2010.

These operators have assumably already submitted their monitoring plans. Due to the extension of the EU ETS, they now have to update their monitoring plans to cover their EEA additional flights. Operators which update their monitoring plans shall notify their competent authority without delay of any changes made. In case of substantial changes to the monitoring methodology, the operators need to submit their plans anew for approval. Substantial changes include:

• Change of the average reported annual emissions which causes the operator to exceed the threshold for applying tier 1 for determination of fuel consumption
• Change in the number of flights or in the total annual emissions which cause the aircraft operator to exceed the threshold for small emitters, so that the operator is no longer eligible for simplified monitoring procedures
• Substantial changes to the type of fuels used

Aircraft operators which are not covered by the EU ETS yet but perform EEA additional flights will be covered by the scope of the scheme as a result of the extension to the EEA EFTA States. These operators have to submit monitoring plans for annual emissions and tonne-kilometre data as soon as possible. The monitoring plans shall be submitted to a competent authority in the state which will become the administering state of the relevant operator, i.e. the EEA EFTA State which granted the operating licence. The operators will have to start monitoring annual emissions and tonne-kilometre data from 1 January 2010.

If a commercial aircraft operator is exempted from the scope on grounds of point (j) of Annex I, i.e. because it operates either fewer than 243 flights per period for three consecutive four-month periods or flights with total annual emissions lower than 10 000 tonnes per year (de minimis rule), the exemption could cease to apply if EEA additional flights cause the aircraft operator to exceed the aforementioned limits. In such case, the aircraft operator has to submit monitoring plans as soon as possible to a competent authority in the administering state, i.e. the state that granted the operating licence or, in case of operator from a third-country, the state with the greatest estimated attributed aviation emissions from flights performed by that aircraft operator in the base year. The aircraft operator shall start monitoring annual emissions and tonne-kilometre data from 1 January 2010.

All references to Member States on the monitoring plans and reporting templates provided by the European Commission should be interpreted as including all 30 EEA States.

Information for aircraft operators

All commercial aircraft operators registered in Iceland and Norway have been informed about the extension. Aircraft operators registered in other states have not been contacted directly but information has been sent to the EU Member States administering operators who are known to be affected by the extension, including a standard letter that can be used to inform these operators. It is however possible that other operators might be affected by the extension, as exhaustive information on EEA additional flights is not yet available. In order to get messages to these possible operators, the EEA EFTA States, the EFTA Secretariat and the European Commission hosted an information meeting with European and international aviation associations on 11 December 2009.

Further information can be found on the Commission´s website.  

Moreover, inquiries can be sent to the Environment Agency of Iceland (flug@ust.is) or the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (ETSaviation@sft.no).