EN Official Journal of the European Union L 112/6

PROTOCOL

on certain arrangements concerning a possible one-off transfer of assigned amount units issued under the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to the Republic of Croatia, as well as the related compensation

THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES,

NOTING that in view of the specific historical circumstances that have affected Croatia, it has been agreed to express a readiness to provide assistance to Croatia through a one-off transfer of Assigned Amount Units issued under the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the ‘Kyoto Protocol’),

NOTING that any such transfer would only be made on a single occasion, would not set a precedent and would reflect the unique and exceptional nature of Croatia's situation,

STRESSING that any such transfer would have to be compensated for by Croatia through an adjustment of its obligations under Decision No 406/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community's greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments up to 2020 (1) so as to ensure environmental integrity by avoiding an increase in the total amount of allowed emissions of the Union and Croatia until 2020,

HAVE AGREED ON THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS:

PART I

TRANSFER

Article 1

This Part shall apply to measures relating to a possible one-off transfer of a quantity of Assigned Amount Units issued under the Kyoto Protocol (AAUs) to Croatia.

Article 2

No transfer shall take place unless Croatia has withdrawn its appeal against the decision of the enforcement branch of the Compliance Committee of the Kyoto Protocol in accordance with any relevant rules and time-limits governing the withdrawal of appeals, before the start of the UNFCCC Conference in Durban (28 November - 9 December 2011).

Any transfer shall be conditional upon the determination by the UNFCCC Expert Review Team, after the true-up period, that Croatia has fallen short of its commitments under Article 3 of the Kyoto Protocol.

No transfer shall take place unless Croatia has made all reasonable efforts to comply with its commitments under Article 3 of the Kyoto Protocol, including the full use of removal units from land use, land-use change and forestry.

Article 3

Any decision on the transfer of AAUs shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers (2). The Commission shall be assisted by the Climate Change Committee established by Article 9 of Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol (3). That Committee shall be a committee within the meaning of European Parliament and Council Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. No such decision shall be adopted where no opinion is delivered.

The AAUs to be transferred shall be drawn from the quantity of AAUs referred to in Article 2 of Commission Decision 2006/944/EC of 14 December 2006 determining the respective emission levels allocated to the Community and each of its Member States under the Kyoto Protocol pursuant to Council Decision 2002/358/EC (4).

Any transfer shall not exceed a total quantity of 7 000 000 AAUs.

PART II

COMPENSATION

Article 4

This Part shall apply to the compensation to be provided by Croatia in the event of a transfer of AAUs in accordance with the provisions of Part I.

Article 5

1. Croatia shall compensate for any AAUs transferred to it through an adjustment, pursuant to this Article, of its obligations under European Parliament and Council Decision No 406/2009/EC.

In particular, the equivalent amount in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent of any AAUs transferred shall, pursuant to this Article, be subtracted from Croatia's annual emission allocations once they have been determined pursuant to Article 3(2) of European Parliament and Council Decision No 406/2009/EC.

2. The Commission shall publish the figures for Croatia's annual emission allocations resulting from the subtraction made in accordance with paragraph 1.

(1) OJ L 140, 5.6.2009, p. 136.

(2) OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13.

(3) OJ L 49, 19.2.2004, p. 1.

(4) OJ L 358, 16.12.2006, p. 87. Decision as amended by Commission Decision 2010/778/EU (OJ L 332, 16.12.2010, p. 41).