National laws and regulations
At national level the Austrian Act on Emissions
Allowance Trading (Emissionszertifikategesetz – EZG) is the core of Austrian legislation on
emissions trading. The EZG has transposed the EU Emissions Trading Directive 2003/87/EC, as amendet
from time to time, into national law und regulates, among other things
- which installations have to participate in emissions trading in Austria
- how an installations gets a permit to emit greenhouse gases
- how the emissions are monitored and verified
- how the allowances are allocated and
- how the allowances are surrendered and retired.
The number of allowances to be allocated in the
relevant trading period is first of all determined in the National Allocation Plan (NAP). After the
NAP has been approved by the European Commission, it is made legally binding in the form of an
Allocation Ordinance (Zuteilungsverordnung).
For the Austrian emissions
trading registry the EU Registry Regulation 2004/2216/EC as amended from time to time and the new
version 2010/920/EC are directly binding. In addition, at the national level a registry
ordinance has been issued, which stipulates that Umweltbundesamt GmbH is responsible for the
technical implementation of the registry supported by a registry service point.
Monitoring and reporting of
emissions is regulated by the Commission Decision for Establishing Monitoring and Reporting
Guidelines 2007/589/EC. The decision has been complemented at the national level by the so-called
Monitoring, Reporting and Verification Ordinance (Überwachungsverordnung-, Berichterstattungs- und
Prüfungs-Verordnung).
