Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2016:799
Date: 2016-10-26
Language of the case: Finnish
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Subject matter: Environment;Provisions governing the Institutions
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Finland

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber), 26 October 2016 1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Identification of the relevant aspects of EU law — Reformulation of the questions (Art. 267 TFEU) 2. Environment — Atmospheric pollution — Directive 2003/87 — Scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading — Transitional regime for free allocation of quotas — Allocation method — Calculation on the basis of the annual maximum quantity of such quotas to be allocated — Account taken, in determining that quantity, of electricity producers’ emissions — Not permissible (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/87, Art. 10a(3) and (5); Commission Decision 2011/278, Art. 15(3)) 3. Environment — Atmospheric pollution — Directive 2003/87 — Scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading — Transitional regime for free allocation of quotas — Benchmarks to be applied in calculating the allocation — Commission decision determining the benchmarks for hot metal — Complex evaluation of economic matters — Manifest error of assessment — Absence (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/87, Art. 10a(2); Commission Decision 2011/278, Annex I) 4. Environment — Atmospheric pollution — Directive 2003/87 — Scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading — Transitional regime for free allocation of quotas — Allocation method — Calculation on the basis of the annual maximum quantity of such quotas to be allocated — Correction factor — Application to all installations not covered by Article 10a(3) of Directive 2003/87 — Lawfulness (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/87, Arts 10a(1), 11 and 12; Commission Decision 2011/278, Art. 10(4) and (9), first para.) 5. Environment — Atmospheric pollution — Directive 2003/87 — Scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading — Transitional regime for free allocation of quotas — Allocation method — Calculation on the basis of the annual maximum quantity of such quotas to be allocated — Account taken, in determining that quantity, of the emissions generated by installations subject to the quota exchange system before 2013 — Not permissible (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/87, Art. 10a(5), first para.,(b), and Annex I ; Commission Decision 2013/448, Art. 4 and Annex II] 6. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Assessment of validity — Declaration of invalidity of the provisions of a Commission decision concerning the correction factor applied by the Member States in order to determine the quantity of greenhouse gas emission quotas to be allocated free of charge — Effects — Temporal limitation (Arts 264, second para., TFEU and 267 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/87; Commission 2013/448, Art. 4 and Annex II) 1. See the text of the decision. (see paras 29, 45) 2. See the text of the decision. (see paras 32, 33) 3. See the text of the decision. (see paras 37-41) 4. An interpretation of Article 10a(1) and (12) of Directive 2003/87 which precludes the application of the correction factor is contrary not only to the wording of those provisions but also to the overall scheme of that directive. Like Article 10a(12), paragraph 11 thereof, which provides that, in principle, the amount of allowances allocated free of charge is gradually to be reduced, also refers to the quantity of quotas fixed in accordance with the measures referred to in Article 10a(1). Therefore, although those measures did not include the correction factor, it cannot be applied either to installations in sectors and subsectors which are exposed to a significant risk of carbon leakage or to installations in sectors which are not exposed to that risk. see para. 54) 5. See the text of the decision. (see paras 58, 59, operative part 4) 6. See the text of the decision. (see para. 60, operative part 5)