California Code of Regulations › Title 17 - Public Health › Division 3 - Air Resources › Chapter 1 - Air Resources Board › Subchapter 10 - Climate Change › Article 5 - California Cap on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Market-Based Compliance Mechanisms › Subarticle 13 - ARB Offset Credits and Registry Offset Credits › Section 95977.1 - Requirements for Offset Verification Services

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Rotation of Verification Bodies. An
						offset project shall not have more than any six out of nine consecutive
						Reporting Periods verified by the same verification body or offset verification
						team member(s), unless otherwise specified in section
						95977.1(a)(1) or
						(a)(2). The rotation requirements in this
						section are applied between the Offset Project Operator, Authorized Project
						Designee, if applicable, and any technical consultant(s) used by the Offset
						Project Operator or Authorized Project Designee, if applicable, and the
						verification body and offset verification team member(s) on an offset project
						basis.
(1) For offset projects developed
						under the Compliance Offset Protocol in section
						95973(a)(2)(C)
						(1.), the following shall apply: Neither a verification body nor offset
						verification team member may conduct offset verification services for more than
						any six out of nine consecutive offset projects developed by any given Offset
						Project Operator, or developed on behalf of that Offset Project Operator by any
						Authorized Project Designee, or any technical consultant(s) used by the Offset
						Project Operator or Authorized Project Designee. For offset projects developed
						under the Compliance Offset Protocol in section
						95973(a)(2)(C)
						(1.), the order of consecutive projects is determined by the project
						commencement dates. For this provision an offset project is defined by any
						activities reported in an Offset Project Data Report, and is applied to offset
						projects listed by the Offset Project Operator and Authorized Project Designee,
						if applicable.
(2) For
						reforestation offset projects developed under, and that meet the requirements
						of, the Compliance Offset Protocol in section
						95973(a)(2)(C)
						(4.), and urban forest offset projects developed under, and that meet the
						requirements of, the Compliance Offset Protocol in section
						95973(a)(2)(C)
						(3.), the following shall apply: An Offset Project Operator or Authorized
						Project Designee that has deferred the second verification for 6 to 12 years
						may have up to 13 Offset Project Data Reports verified by the same verification
						body and offset verification team member(s). If an Offset Project Operator or
						Authorized Project Designee has not deferred the second verification for more
						than 6 years, the requirements in section
						95977.1(a) for
						rotation of verification bodies and offset verification team member(s) shall
						apply. An Offset Project Operator or Authorized Project Designee may contract
						with a previous verification body or offset verification team member(s) only if
						at least three consecutive Offset Project Data Reports for the offset project
						have been verified by a different verification body(ies) and offset
						verification team member(s) before the previous verification body and offset
						verification team member(s) is selected again. When rotating verification
						bodies and offset verification team members under this provision, the rotation
						requirements must also apply to any technical consultant(s) used by the Offset
						Project Operator or Authorized Project Designee, if applicable.
(3) All early action reporting periods for
						which regulatory verification was conducted for an early action offset project
						pursuant to the Program for Recognition of Early Action Offset Credits may
						count as one Reporting Period for the purposes of determining rotation of
						verification bodies and offset verification team members.
(4) Each early action reporting period for
						which early action verification was conducted under an Early Action Offset
						Program prior to transitioning the offset project to a Compliance Offset
						Protocol must be used in determining the rotation of verification bodies and
						offset verification team member pursuant to this section. Each early action
						reporting period verified under the Early Action Offset Program is considered a
						separate Reporting Period for purposes of this section.