COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the greenhouse gas emissions accounting of transport services (CountEmissions EU)
Date: 2026-03-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, carriage of passengers, disclosure of information, environmental monitoring, environmental standard, exchange of information, greenhouse gas, pollution control measures, provision of services, reduction of gas emissions

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 6.3.2026  COM(2026) 121 final 2023/0266 (COD)  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the greenhouse gas emissions accounting of transport services (CountEmissions EU) (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
2023/0266 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and 
of the Council on the greenhouse gas emissions accounting of transport services 
(CountEmissions EU) 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council (document COM(2023) 441 final – 2023/0266 
COD): 

11 July 2023. 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

25 October 2023. 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

10 April 2024. 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

N/A. 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

26 February 2026. 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

The  Commission’s  proposal  aims  to  lay  down  a  common  EU  framework  to  account  for  the 
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of transport services across transport modes. The objective 
of  the  proposal  is  to  ensure  uniformity,  comparability  and  transparency of  emissions 
information in order to: (i) support more sustainable choices by businesses and consumers; (ii) 
improve market functioning; and (iii) contribute to the EU’s climate objectives while ensuring 
proportionality for businesses, notably micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The  Council  position  at  first  reading  preserves  the  core  architecture  and  objectives  of  the 
Commission proposal while reflecting the provisional agreement reached with the European 
Parliament on 5 November 2025. The purpose of the Council position is to deliver a balanced, 
implementable legal framework that: 

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maintains  EN  ISO  14083  standard  as  the  reference  methodology for  calculating 
emissions  of  transport  services,  while  providing  for  its  possible  review  and 
clarification if necessary; 

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avoids  imposing  new  mandatory  reporting  requirements  on  businesses  and 
obligations  to  use  primary  data  for  emissions  calculation,  while  allowing  Member 
States to mandate and incentivise the use of such data on their territories; 

empowers the Commission to create default value databases at the EU level, taking 
into  account  the  relevant  existing  regulations,  and  sets  rules  for  the  assessment  of 
data from databases and calculation tools operated by third parties; 

provides  practical  support  for  SMEs by  requiring  the  Commission  to  develop  a 
simple,  free-to-use  EU  calculation  tool  and  an  accompanying  manual  (the  tool’s 
technical specifications are to be set out in an implementing act); 

sets  clear  and  reasonable  implementation  timelines for  databases,  tool  development 
and quality-assurance measures necessary to ensure operational readiness; 

allocates powers to the Commission to adopt implementing and delegated acts in line 
with the requirements laid down in Articles 290 and 291 TFEU; 

defers  any  possible  decisions  on  methodological  extensions  under  a  review  clause, 
tasking the Commission with assessing international developments and the feasibility 
of such extensions four years after the Regulation’s entry into application; 

provides  that  any  issues  related  to  the  accessibility  of  EN  ISO  14083  standard  are 
assessed by the Commission in the context of the Regulation’s evaluation. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission welcomes the result of the inter-institutional negotiations and can therefore 
accept the Council’s position at first reading. 

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