Report from the Commission - Assigned Amount Report of the European Union (required under Article 7(1) of Decision 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol)
Date: 2006-12-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, greenhouse gas, pollution control measures, reduction of gas emissions, report, tradeable emission permit

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 15.12.2006 
COM(2006) 799 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

Assigned Amount Report of the European Union 

(required under Article 7(1) of Decision 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of 
the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas 
emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol) 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION  

This  report  is  a  summary  of  the  technical  report  prepared  by  the  European  Environment 
Agency (EEA) to be submitted on behalf of the European Community (EC) to the Secretariat 
of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to facilitate the 
calculation of the assigned amount pursuant to Art. 7 and 8 of the Kyoto Protocol (KP), and 
demonstrate  its  capacity  to  account  for  its  emissions  and  assigned  amount  for  the  first 
commitment period under the KP (the “assigned amount” report).  

The  KP  was  ratified  by  the  EC  and  its  Member  States  (MS)  on  31  May  2002.  At  this 
ratification, the Community declared that it and its MS would fulfil their respective emission 
limitation  and  reduction  commitments  under  Art.  3(1)  of  the  Protocol  jointly  in  accordance 
with Art. 4 thereof. At the time of ratification, the following 15 States were members of the 
EC:  Austria,  Belgium,  Denmark,  Germany,  Greece,  Finland,  France,  Ireland,  Italy, 
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. These were 
also the 15 states that were members of the EC when the KP was adopted in December 1997. 
In accordance with Art. 4(4) of the KP, the accession of 10 additional MS after the adoption 
of  the  Protocol  does  not  affect  the  Community’s  commitments  under  the  Protocol.  For  this 
reason, the Community’s calculation of its assigned amount refers to the 15 MS listed above 
(EU-15).  The  assigned  amount  report  also  presents  information  for  the  eight  new  MS  that 
have  quantified  emission  limitation  or  reduction  obligations  under  the  KP  (Czech  Republic, 
Estonia,  Hungary,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Poland,  Slovenia  and  Slovakia).  Cyprus  and  Malta  do 
not  have  a  quantified  emission  limitation  or  reduction  obligation  under  the  KP  and  are 
therefore not included in this report.  

According  to  UNFCCC  Decision  13/CMP.1(Modalities  for  the  accounting  of  assigned 
amounts under Art. 7(4) of the KP), the assigned amount report should consist of two parts as 
presented below.  

2. 

PART 1 

a) Complete inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of 
greenhouse gases (GHG) 

The  complete  inventories  of  anthropogenic  emissions  by  sources  and  removals  by  sinks  of 
greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol for all years from 1990 to 2004 are 
included in Annex I (EC inventory report) and Annex II (Common reporting format tables for 
EU-15  and  EU-25)  of  the  EC  “assigned  amount”  report  as  prepared  by  the  EEA.  The 
information included in these GHG inventories is the basis for the calculation of the assigned 
amount of the EC as presented in this Communication. 

b) Identification of the European Community’s selected base year for HFCs, PFCs and 
SF6 in accordance with Art. 3(8) 

The base year emissions of the EC are the sum of the respective base year emissions of the 15 
MS that agreed to jointly fullfill their respective commitments under Art. 3 of the KP. This 
rule also refers to the base year for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and 
sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). For these gases, Parties included in Annex I of the KP can select 
either  1995,  in  accordance  with  Art.  3(8)  of  the  KP,  or  the  base  year  for  other  Annex  A 

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greenhouse gases (mostly 1990). Austria, France and Italy selected 1990 as the base year for 
theses gases, all other MS chose 1995. The base year for all other GHG emissions under the 
KP is 1990 for the EU-15. 

The base year for HFCs, PFCs and SF6 for the new MS with commitments under the KP is 
1995, except for Slovakia which chose 1990 as base year for fluorinated gases. The base year 
for all other GHG emissions under the KP is 1990, except for Poland (1988), Slovenia (1986) 
and Hungary (1985-87).  

c)  The  agreement  under  Article  4,  where  the  Party  has  reached  such  an  agreement  to 
fulfil the commitment under Article 3 jointly with other Parties 

The KP, under Art. 4, provides the option for Parties to fulfil their respective commitments 
under  Art.  3  jointly,  acting  in  the  framework  of  and  together  with  a  regional  economic 
integration  organisation.  The  agreement  of  the  EC  and  its  MS  to  fulfill  the  respective 
commitments  under  Art.  3(1)  of  the  KP  jointly  (the  joint  fulfilment  agreement)  established 
quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments for the Community and its MS for 
the first commitment period, from 2008 to 2012. These commitments define the MS’ assigned 
amount  under  the  KP.  The  full  text  of  this  agreement  is  contained  in  the  Council  Decision 
approving  the  KP1  and  was  notified  to  the  UNFCCC  Secretariat  upon  ratification  by  the 
Community and its MS. 

d) Calculation of its assigned amount pursuant to Art. 3(7) and 3(8) on the basis of the 
inventory  of  anthropogenic  emissions  by  sources  and  removals  by  sinks  of  greenhouse 
gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol 

The EC’s assigned amount pursuant to Art. 3(7) and 3(8) is equal to the percentage inscribed 
for the Community in Annex B of the KP (92 %) of its base year emissions multiplied by five. 
The Community base year emissions are 4,276,359,577 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent 
(CO2  eq.)  and  are  equal  to  the  sum  of  base  year  emissions  of  greenhouse  gases  for  EU-15. 
The assigned amounts for the EC and its MS resulting from this calculation are determined in 
Decision  xxx/2006/EC2.  The  Community’s  assigned  amount  is  19,682,555,325  tonnes  of 
CO2  eq.  The  calculations  of  the  Community’s  assigned  amount  and  the  respective  assigned 
amounts of each MS are set out in Table 1. The assigned amounts for the new MS are set out 
in Table 2. The assigned amount for each MS is to be issued in that MS's registry. 

The  revision  of  MS  emissions  data  for  the  base-year  under  the  KP  results  in  an  arithmetic 
difference of 11,403,608 tonnes of CO2 eq. between the assigned amount for the EC and the 
sum  of  the  assigned  amounts  of  each  of  the  EU-15  MS.  In  accordance  with  Decision 
xxx/2006/EC this difference is to be issued as assigned amount units in the EC registry. 

1 

2 

Council Decision 2002/358/EC of 25 April 2002 concerning the approval, on behalf of the EC, of the 
KP to the UNFCCC and the joint fulfilment of commitments thereunder, OJ L130, 15.5.2002, p.1. 
Commission  Decision  xx/2006/EC  of  xx  December  2006  determining  the  respective  emission  levels 
allocated to the Community and each of its MS under the Kyoto Protocol pursuant to Council Decision 
2002/358/EC. 

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Table 1: Base year emissions and assigned amounts of the European Community and 
MS included in the joint fulfilment agreement 

Member State/EC 

Base year 
emissions  

Emissions in 1990 due 
to deforestation (Art. 
3(7) Kyoto Protocol) 

Quantified 
emission reduction 
commitment 
(Annex B of the 
Kyoto Protocol)  

Calculated assigned 
amount 

European 
Community 

Tonnes CO2 eq. 

Tonnes CO2 eq. 

4,276,359,577 

1,619,634 

% 

92% 

Tonnes CO2 eq. 

19,682,555,325 

Austria 
Belgium 

Denmark 

Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 

Ireland 

Italy 
Luxembourg 
Netherlands 
Portugal 
Spain 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 

78,959,404 
146,890,526 

69,323,336 

71,096,195 
563,925,328 
1,232,536,951 
111,054,072 

55,780,237 

519,464,323 
12,688,140 
214,588,451 
60,938,032 
289,385,637 
72,281,599 
779,904,144 

N/A 
N/A  
No emissions from 
deforestation 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
No emissions from 
deforestation 
N/A 
N/A 
280,212 
973,829 
N/A 
N/A  
365,593 

Quantified 
emission 
limitation or 
reduction 
commitment as 
in joint 
fulfilment 
agreement 
87% 
92.5% 

79% 

100% 
100% 
79% 
125% 

113% 

93.5% 
72% 
94% 
127% 
115% 
104% 
87.5% 

343,473,407 
679,368,682 

273,827,177 

355,480,975 
2,819,626,640 
4,868,520,955 
694,087,947 

315,158,338 

2,428,495,710 
45,677,304 
1,008,565,720 
386,956,503 
1,663,967,412 
375,864,317 
3,412,080,630 

* Base year emissions exclude emissions and removals from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector, but 
include emissions due to deforestation for those MS that can apply Article 3(7) of the KP. Several MS updated their GHG 
inventories  for  the  purpose  of  this  report  in  comparison  with  the  greenhouse  gas  inventory  submitted  in  April  2006  to  the 
UNFCCC. 

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Base year 
emissions 
excluding 
LULUCF  

Emissions in 1990 due 
to deforestation that 
can be accounted 
under Art 3.7 of the 
Kyoto Protocol 

Quantified emission 
reduction 
commitment (Annex 
B of the Kyoto 
Protocol) 

Calculated 
assigned 
amount 

Tonnes CO2 eq. 
196,280,576 
43,022,295 
123,034,090 
25,894,218 
48,103,464 
565,829,000 
73,360,100 
20,203,252 

N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 

% 
92% 
92% 
94% 
92% 
92% 
94% 
92% 
92% 

Tonnes CO2 eq
902,890,649
197,902,558
578,260,222
119,113,402
221,275,934
2,673,496,300
337,456,459
92,934,961

Table 2: Base 
year emissions 
and assigned 
amounts of 
new MS with 
commitments 
under Art. 3 
of the 
KPMember 
State 

Czech Republic 
Estonia 
Hungary 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Poland3 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 

3. 

PART 2 

a) Calculation of the commitment period reserve in accordance with decision 11/CMP.1  

The  Commitment  Period  Reserve  (CPR)  is  the  lowest  of  either  90  per  cent  of  a  Party's 
assigned amount calculated pursuant to Art. 3(7) and 3(8), of the KP, or 100 per cent of five 
times the most recently reviewed inventory. Table 3 presents the CPRs for the EU-15 MS and 
the European Community. Table 4 shows the commitment period reserves for new MS with 
quantified emission limitation or reduction commitments under Art. 3 of the KP. 

3 

Poland did not provide the complete time series of GHG emissions until 2004. The base year data in the 
table is that submitted to the Commission on 26 June 2006. Poland reported separately its total assigned 
amount, which is presented in the table and which is not consistent with this data. 

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Table 3: CPR of the EC and EU-15 MS 

Member 
State/EC 

European 
Community 

Austria  

Belgium  

Denmark  

Finland  

France  

Germany  

Greece  

Ireland  

Italy  

Luxembourg  

Netherlands  

Portugal  

Spain  

Sweden  

United Kingdom  

Calculated 
assigned amount 

CPR 
(Method to calculate the 
CPR: 90 % of assigned 
amount) 

Tonnes CO2 eq 

Tonnes CO2 eq 

343,473,407 

679,368,682 

273,827,177 

355,480,975 

2,819,626,640 

4,868,520,955 

694,087,947 

315,158,338 

2,428,495,710 

45,677,304 

1,008,565,720 

386,956,503 

1,663,967,412 

375,864,317 

3,412,080,630 

17,704,036,546 

309,126,066 

611,431,814 

246,444,459 

319,932,878 

2,537,663,976 

4,381,668,860 

624,679,152 

283,642,504 

2,185,646,139 

41,109,574 

907,709,148 

348,260,853 

1,497,570,671 

338,277,885 

3,070,872,567 

Table 4: CPRs of new MS with commitments under Art. 3 of the KP 

Member State 

CPR 

Method to calculate the 
CPR 

Czech Republic 
Estonia 
Hungary 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Poland 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 

Tonnes CO2 eq 

735,719,710 
106,806,120 
419,762,705 
53,730,643 
105,251,557 
1,942,365,000 
255,230,824 
83,641,463 

5*2003 inventory 
5*2004 inventory 
5*2004 inventory 
5*2004 inventory 
5*2004 inventory 
5*2004 inventory 
5*2004 inventory 
90% of assigned amount 

b)  Identification  of  the  selection  of  single  minimum  values  for  tree  crown  cover,  land 
area and tree height for use in accounting under Art. 3(3) and 3(4) 

MS  have  selected  threshold  values  for  the  forest  definition  for  reporting  on  the  activities 
afforestation, reforestation and deforestation under Art. 3(3) of the KP. As the EC aggregates 
MS’  information,  MS  selected  threshold  values  for  the  required  single  minimum  values  for 
tree crown cover, land area, and tree height in accordance with the forest definition used for 
reporting  to  the  FAO.  Table  5  presents  an  overview  on  MS’  selections  as  reported  in  their 

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reports to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount. Table 6 shows the same overview 
for the new MS.  

Table 5: EU-15 MS’ selection of threshold values for the forest definition for reporting 
under Art. 3(3) 

Member State  Min.value for tree 
crown cover (%) 
30 % 
20 % 
10 %  
10 % 
10 % 
10 % 
Not submitted 
20 % 
10 % 
10 % 
20 % 
10 % 
20 % 
10 % 
20 % 

Austria 
Belgium 
Denmark 
Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Ireland 
Italy 
Luxembourg 
Netherlands 
Portugal 
Spain 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 

Min. tree height 
(m) 
2  
5  
5  
5  
5  
5 
Not submitted 
5  
5  
5  
5  
5  
3  
5  
2  

Min. area for forest 
land area (ha) 
0.05  
0.5  
0.5  
0.5  
0.5  
0.1 
Not submitted 
0.1  
0.5  
0.5  
0.5  
1  
1  
0.5  
0.1  

Table 6: New MS’ selection of threshold values for the forest definition for reporting 
under Art. 3(3) 

Member State  Min. value for tree 

crown cover (%) 

Min. tree height 
(m) 

Czech Republic 
Estonia 
Hungary 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Poland 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 

30 % 
30 % 
30 % 
20 % 
10 % 
10 % 
20 % 
30 % 

2  
1.3  
5  
5  
5  
2  
5  
2 

Min. area for forest 
land area (ha) 
0.05  
0.5  
0.5  
0.1  
0.1  
0.1  
0.3  
0.05  

c)  Identification  of  the  election  of  activities  under  Art.  3(4)  for  inclusion  in  the 
accounting for the first commitment period  

Art.  3(4)  of  the  KP  provides  the  option  of  including  the  activities  forest  management, 
cropland  management,  grazing  land  management  and  revegetation  in  the  accounting  of 
emissions and removals for the first commitment period. MS decided on the election of these 
activities in their national reporting under the KP. The EC’s inventory and assigned amount 
calculation is based on the election of activities by the EU-15. Table 7 presents an overview 
of  the  EU-15  MS’  elections  of  activities  under  Art.  3(4)  as  reported  in  their  reports  to 
facilitate  the  calculation  of  the  assigned  amount.  Table  8  shows  the  decision  on  elections 
under Art. 3(4) taken by new MS. 

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Table 7: EU-15 MS of elections of activities under Art. 3(4) 

Member State 

Forest mgmt. 

Cropland 
mgmt. 

Grazing land 
mgmt. 

Austria 
Belgium 
Denmark 
Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Ireland 
Italy 
Luxembourg 
Netherlands 
Portugal 
Spain 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 

- 
- 
X 
Not decided 
X 
Not decided 
Not decided 
- 
X 
- 
- 
X 
X 
X 
X 

- 
- 
X 
Not decided 
- 
Not decided 
Not decided 
- 
- 
- 
- 
X 
X 
- 
- 

- 
- 
X 
Not decided 
- 
Not decided 
Not decided 
- 
- 
- 
- 
X 
- 
- 
- 

Table 8: New MS’ elections of activities under Art. 3(4) 

Member State 

Forest mgmt. 

Cropland 
mgmt. 

Grazing land 
mgmt. 

Czech Republic 
Estonia 
Hungary 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Poland 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 

X 
- 
X 
- 
X 
X 
- 
X 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
Not decided 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
Not decided 
- 
- 

d) Identification of frequency of accounting for each activity under Art. 3(3) and 3(4) 

MS identify the accounting frequency for the activities under Art. 3(3) and 3(4) in their 
respective reports to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount. Table 9 and Table 10 
reflect MS’ choices. 

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Table 9: EU-15 MS’ choice of accounting frequency 

Member State 

Annual accounting for each activity under 
3(3) and 3(4) 

Accounting at the end of the first 
commitment period for 

Austria 

Belgium 

Denmark 

X 

Finland 

France 

X 

Germany 

Not decided 

Not decided 

Greece 

Ireland 

Italy 

Luxembourg 

Netherlands 

Portugal 

Spain 

Sweden 

United 
Kingdom 

each activity under Art. 3(3) 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) 

 each activity under Art. 3(3), Not decided 
for activities under Art. 3(4) 

Not decided 

Not decided 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) and 3(4) 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) and 3(4) 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) and 3(4) 

 each  activity  under  Art.  3(3)  and  forest 
mgmt. under Art. 3(4) 

 each  activity  under  Art.  3(3)  and  forest 
mgmt. under Art. 3(4) 

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Member 
State 

Czech 
Republic 

Estonia 

Hungary 

Latvia 

Lithuania 

Poland 

Slovakia 

Slovenia 

Table 10: New MS’ choice of accounting frequency 

Annual accounting 

Accounting at the end of the first 
commitment period for 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) and forest 
mgmt. under Art. 3(4) 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) 

each  activity  under  Art.  3(3) and forest  mgmt. 
under Art. 3(4) 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) 

 each  activity  under  Art.  3(3)  and  forest 
mgmt. under Art. 3(4) 

 each  activity  under  Art.  3(3)  and  forest 
mgmt. under Art. 3(4) 

 each activity under Art. 3(3) 

 each  activity  under  Art.  3(3)  and  forest 
mgmt. under Art. 3(4) 

Each MS will account for net emissions and removals for each activity under Art. 3(3), and 
Art.  3(4)  if  elected,  by  issuing  RMUs  or  cancelling  KP  units  based  on  the  corresponding 
reported emissions and removals from these acticities and the specific accounting rules. The 
EC  will  neither  issue,  nor  cancel  units  based  on  the  reported  emissions  and  removals  from 
activities under Art. 3(3) and 3(4). The EC will report the sum of MS’ cumulative accounting 
quantities  for  these  activities  at  the  end  of  the  commitment  period,  representing  the  MS’ 
cumulative  additions  to  or  subtractions  from  their  assigned  amount  at  the  end  of  the 
commitment period. 

e)  A  description  of  the  national  system  in  accordance  with  Art.  5(1)  reported  in 
accordance  with  the  guidelines  for  the  preparation  of  the  information  required  under 
Article 7 of the Kyoto Protocol 

The  objectives  of  the  EC’s  inventory  system  are  to  ensure  accuracy,  comparability, 
consistency,  completeness,  transparency  and  timeliness  of  the  inventories  submitted  by  the 
MS  and  the  Community  to  the  UNFCCC  in  accordance  with  the  UNFCCC  Guidelines  for 
annual inventories. 

Figure 1 illustrates the inventory system of the EC. The Directorate General of the European 
Commission  (DG  Environment)  is  responsible  for  preparing  the  inventory  of  the  EC  while 
each Member State is responsible for the preparation of its own inventory which serves as the 
basis for the inventory of the EC. The following institutions support DG Environment in the 
preparation  of  the  inventory:  the  EEA  and  its  European  Topic  Centre  on  Air  and  Climate 
Change  (ETC/ACC)  as  well  as  the  following  other  DGs  of  the  European  Commission: 
Eurostat, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). 

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Figure 1: Inventory system of the EC 

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The European Commission, Directorate-General for the Environment  

DG  Environment  in  consultation  with  the  MS  has  the  overall  responsibility  for  the 
Community’s  inventory.  MS  are  required  to  submit  their  national  inventories  and  inventory 
reports  under  Decision  280/2004/EC4  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  to  the 
European  Commission,  DG  Environment;  and  the  European  Commission,  DG  Environment 
itself submits the inventory and inventory report of the EC to the UNFCCC Secretariat. 

•  The Climate Change Committee (CCC) established under Art. 9 of Decision 280/2004/EC 
assists  the  Commission.  The  Committee  is  composed  of  representatives  of  the  MS  and 
chaired by a representative of the Commission. Working Group 1 “Annual inventories” has 
been established under the CCC as a regular body for the exchange of information between 
the  European  Commission  (DG  Environment,  Eurostat,  JRC  (Joint  Research  Centre)), 
EEA (ETC/ACC) and the MS.  

The European Environment Agency (EEA) 

The  EEA  assists  DG  Environment,  through  the  work  of  the  ETC/ACC.  The  ETC/ACC 
supports the EEA in the following activities:  

•  Preparation  of  initial  checks  of  MS’  submissions  in  cooperation  with  Eurostat,  and  the 
JRC,  up  to  28  February  and  circulation  of  the  results  of  initial  checks  (status  reports, 
consistency and completeness reports); 

•  Consultation with MS in order to clarify data and other information provided; 

•  Preparation and circulation of the draft EC inventory and inventory report by 28 February 

based on MS’ submissions; 

•  Preparation of the final EC inventory and inventory report by 15 April (to be submitted by 

the Commission to the UNFCCC Secretariat); 

•  Assisting MS in their reporting of GHG inventories by means of supplying software tools; 

•  Maintenance of the inventory database and of the inventory archives; 

•  Implementation  of  the  quality  assurance  and  quality  control  (QA/QC)  procedures  for  the 

EC inventory as outlined in the EC’s QA/QC programme; 

The  specific  activities  of  the  EEA  and  ETC/ACC  are  outlined  in  the  respective  yearly 
management plans. The tasks of the EEA and the ETC/ACC are facilitated by the European 
environmental  information  and  observation  network  (Eionet),  which  consists  of  the  EEA  as 
central  node  (supported  by  European  topic  centres)  and  national  institutions  in  the  EEA 
member  countries  that  supply  and/or  analyse  national  data  on  the  environment  (see 
http://eionet.eea.eu.int/). The MS are encouraged to use the central data repository under the 
Eionet  for  making  available  their  GHG  submissions  to  the  European  Commission  and  the 
ETC/ACC (see http://cdr.eionet.eu.int/). 

4 

Decision 280/2004/EC of 11 February 2004 concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community GHG 
emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol 

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The European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change (ETC/ACC) 

The  ETC/ACC  was  established  by  a  contract  between  the  lead  organisation  Milieu-  en 
Natuurplanbureau (MNP) in the Netherlands and EEA in March 2001. An updated framework 
contract will start from 1 January 2007 and will last for four years until 2010. The ETC/ACC 
involves 11 organisations and institutions in eight European countries. The specific activities 
of the ETC/ACC are outlined in the respective yearly management plan. 

DG Eurostat 

DG  Eurostat  assists  DG  Environment  and  cooperates  with  the  EEA  in  QA/QC  activities  as 
described in the QA/QC programme, focusing on activity data, in particular energy data. The 
specific activities of DG Eurostat are outlined in the respective yearly management plan. 

DG Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) 

DG JRC assists DG Environment and cooperates with the EEA in QA/QC activities of the EC 
inventory, focusing on the sector LULUCF and agriculture. DG JRC performs these activities 
in close cooperation with the MS and the research community. The specific activities of DG 
JRC are outlined in the respective yearly management plan. 

Member States (MS) 

The EC’s inventory is based on the inventories supplied by the MS. The total estimate of the 
Community’s  GHG  emissions  should  accurately  reflect  the  sum  of  MS’  national  GHG 
inventories.  MS  are  responsible  for  choosing  activity  data,  emission  factors  and  other 
parameters  used  for  their  national  inventories  as  well  as  the  correct  application  of 
methodologies  provided  in  the  Intergovernmental  Panel  on  Climate  Change  (IPCC) 
Guidelines, IPCC Good Practice Guidance and IPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF. 
MS are also responsible for establishing QA/QC programmes for their inventories. 

The legal basis for the compilation of the EC inventory is Decision 280/2004/EC.  

Under Decision 280/2004/EC  each Member State is required to establish  a national system. 
The reporting requirements for the MS under Decision 280/2004/EC are further elaborated in 
the  Commission  Decision  2005/166/EC 
implementing  Decision 
280/2004/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  concerning  a  mechanism  for 
monitoring Community GHG emissions and for implementing the KP 5. 

laying  down  rules 

Annual procedures 

The annual process of compilation of the Community’s inventory includes the following core 
elements:  The  MS  submit  their  annual  GHG  inventory  by  15  January  each  year  to  the 
European  Commission’s  DG  Environment.  Then,  the  ETC/ACC,  Eurostat  and  the  JRC 
perform initial checks of the submitted data up to 28 February. On 28 February, the draft EC 
GHG  inventory  and  inventory  report  are  circulated  to  the  MS  for  their  comments.  The  MS 
check their national  data  and  information used in the EC inventory report and send  updates 
and  comments,  if  necessary,  by  15  March.  This  procedure  assures  the  timely  submission  of 

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OJ L 55, 1.3.2005, p. 57. 

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the EC GHG inventory and inventory report to the UNFCCC Secretariat and guarantees that 
the  EC  submission  to  the  UNFCCC  Secretariat  is  consistent  with  the  Member  State 
submissions to the UNFCCC submissions. 

Quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) of the European Community inventory 

The  European  Commission  (DG  Environment)  is  responsible  for  coordinating  the  QA/QC 
activities  for  the  EC  GHG  inventory,  for  ensuring  that  the  objectives  of  the  QA/QC 
programme are implemented and that a QA/QC plan is developed. The EEA is responsible for 
the annual implementation of QA/QC procedures for the EC inventory. 

As  the  Community’s  inventory  is  based  on  the  annual  inventories  of  the  MS,  its  quality 
depends  on  the  quality  of  the  MS’  inventories,  the  QA/QC  procedures  of  the  MS  and  the 
quality of the compilation process of the EC inventory. The MS and also the EC as a whole 
are  currently  implementing  QA/QC  procedures  in  order  to  comply  with  the  IPCC  good 
practice guidance. 

The  Community  elaborated  a  QA/QC  programme  describing  the  quality  objectives  and  the 
inventory  QA/QC  plan  including  responsibilities  and  time  schedules  for  the  performance  of 
the  QA/QC  procedures.  The  Community’s  QA/QC  programme  is  reviewed  annually  and 
modified or updated as appropriate. 

The overall objectives of the EC’s QA/QC programme are: 

•  to provide a EC inventory of GHG emissions and removals consistent with the sum of MS’ 

inventories of GHG emissions and removals; 

•  to  establish  appropriate  QA/QC  procedures  at  the  EC  level  in  order  to  comply  with  the 

requirements under the UNFCCC and the KP; 

•  to contribute to the improvement of the quality of the MS’ inventories, and  

•  to provide assistance for the implementation of national QA/QC programmes. 

Additional specific objectives have been elaborated in order to ensure that the Community’s 
inventory  complies  with  the  UNFCCC  inventory  principles  of  transparency,  completeness, 
consistency, comparability, accuracy and timeliness. 

In  addition  a  QA/QC  plan  was  elaborated.  This plan  lists  QC  procedures  before  and  during 
the  compilation  of  the  inventory.  QA  procedures,  procedures  for  documentation  and 
archiving,  the  time  schedules  for  QA/QC  procedures  and  the  provisions  related  to  the 
inventory improvement plan are also included. 

QC  procedures  are  performed  at  several  different  stages  during  the  preparation  of  the  EC 
inventory. Firstly, a range of checks are used to determine the consistency and completeness 
of  MS’  data  so  that  they  may  be  compiled  in  a  transparent  manner  at  Community  level. 
Secondly checks are carried out to ensure that the data are compiled correctly at Community 
level to meet the overall reporting requirements. Thirdly, a number of checks are conducted 
with regard to data archiving and documentation to meet various other data quality objectives. 

Based  on  the  EC  QA/QC  programme  a  quality  management  manual  was  developed  which 
includes all specific details of the QA/QC procedures (in particular checklists and forms). The 

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EC  quality  management  manual  is  structured  along  three  main  processes  (management 
processes, inventory compilation processes, supporting processes) of the quality management 
system.  

The quality checks performed during inventory compilation process are the central part of the 
quality  manual.  Quality  checks  are  made  at  three  levels:  a)  Quality  control  of  MS’ 
submissions, b) Quality control of the EC inventory compilation, and c) Quality checks of the 
EC inventory report. 

f) A description of the national registry, reported in accordance with the guidelines for 
the preparation of the information required under Article 7 of the Kyoto Protocol 

The  description  of  the  EC’s  national  registry  follows  the  reporting  guidance  set  down  in 
Decision  15/CMP.1,  part  II  (Reporting  of  supplementary  information  under  Art.  7(1),  E. 
National registries) under the KP. The EC registry is maintained by the DG Environment and 
is  currently  not  operated  in  a  consolidated  system  with  any  other  Party's  registry.  The 
software  used  for  the  operation  of  the  EC  Registry  has  been  developed  for  the  purposes  of 
allowance  trading  under  both  the  EU  Emissions  Trading  Scheme  and  the  KP.  Both  require 
participants’  registries  to  be  compliant  with  the  UN  Data  Exchange  Standards  specified  for 
the KP. 

Potential  discrepancies  between  the  EC  Registry  and  the  UN  Independent  Transaction  Log 
will be minimized using the approach adopted for the Registry system development of the EU 
Emissions Trading Scheme. A number of security measures have also been employed in order 
to  deter  unauthorized  manipulations  and  minimize  operator  error.  Public  access  to  relevant 
information  in  the  EC  registry  will  be  granted  in  accordance  with  international  and  EC  law 
and requirements pursuant to the KP. 

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