The commission has also discussed regulations for permits allocated free of charge, for the possibility of this being introduced. The commission agrees that the amount of permits allocated free of charge would have to be based on historic emissions, and suggests that companies should be free to chosse either 1990 or 1998 as their baseline year. The view of the commission is split once again when it comes to the use of these permits. The majority suggests that any permits allocated free of charge would have to be based on historic emissions, and that the permits cannot be traded, but will have to be used by the company to whom it was originally allocated. The minority suggests that a fraction of the permits allocated free of charge could be traded by the companies, but that the rest of the permits would have be used within the company.
More detailed information is available.
Implementation The ability of Norwegian industry to compete internationally must not be impaired by the transition to an ET system. The implementation of an ET system must not make it more difficult to establish new industry or expand existing activities in Norway compared to other countries. A fully functional ET system has to be in place for 2008. All regulation and main framework should be established well before this, so that potential parties to the market will have time to adjust to the ET scenario. Any companies or sectors of industry that join this early system must be credited, and exess credits acquired during this period and banked into the Kyoto Period 2008-2012 must be valid.