Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067 of 19 December 2018 on the verification of data and on the accreditation of verifiers pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance.)

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down provisions for the verification of reports submitted pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC and for the accreditation and supervision of verifiers.

This Regulation also lays down, without prejudice to Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, provisions for the mutual recognition of verifiers and peer evaluation of national accreditation bodies pursuant to Articles 15 and 30f of Directive 2003/87/EC.

Article 2

Scope

This Regulation applies to the following:

(a) the verification of greenhouse gas emissions occurring from 1 January 2019, reported pursuant to Article 14 of Directive 2003/87/EC, and to the verification of data relevant for the update of ex ante benchmarks and for the determination of free allocation to installations pursuant to Article 10a of that Directive;

(b) the verification of greenhouse gas emissions occurring from 1 January 2025, reported by the regulated entity pursuant to Article 30f of Directive 2003/87/EC;

(c) the verification of non-CO2 aviation effects occurring from 1 January 2025, reported by the aircraft operator pursuant to Article 14(5) of Directive 2003/87/EC.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, in addition to the definitions laid down in Article 3 of Directive 2003/87/EC and Article 3 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) ‘detection risk’ means the risk that the verifier does not detect a material misstatement;

(2) ‘accreditation’ means attestation by a national accreditation body that a verifier meets the requirements set by harmonised standards, within the meaning of Article 2, point 9, of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, and requirements set out in this Regulation to carry out the verification of an operator’s or aircraft operator’s report or regulated entity’s report pursuant to this Regulation;

(3) ‘verifier’ means a legal person carrying out verification activities pursuant to this Regulation and accredited by a national accreditation body pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 and this Regulation or a natural person otherwise authorised, without prejudice to Article 5(2) of that Regulation, at the time a verification report is issued;

(4) ‘verification’ means the activities carried out by a verifier to issue a verification report pursuant to this Regulation;

(5) ‘misstatement’ means an omission, misrepresentation or error in the operator’s, aircraft operator’s or regulated entity’s reported data, not considering the uncertainty permissible under Article 12(1), point (a), of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066;

(6) ‘material misstatement’ means a misstatement that, in the opinion of the verifier, individually or when aggregated with other misstatements, exceeds the materiality level or could affect the treatment of the operator’s or aircraft operator’s report or the regulated entity’s report by the competent authority;

(6a) ‘annual activity level report’ means a report submitted by an operator pursuant to Article 3(3) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1842 (¹);

(6b) ‘regulated entity’s report’ means the annual emission report submitted by the regulated entity pursuant to Article 75p of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066;

(6c) ‘non-CO2 aviation effects report’ means the report to be submitted by the aircraft operator pursuant to Article 14(5) of Directive 2003/87/EC and included as an attachment in the aircraft operator’s annual emission report in accordance with Article 68(5) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066;

(7) ‘operator’s or aircraft operator’s report’ means the annual emission report to be submitted by the operator or aircraft operator pursuant to Article 14(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC, the non-CO2 aviation effects report, the baseline data report submitted by the operator pursuant to Article 4(2) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331 (²), the new entrant data report submitted by the operator pursuant to Article 5(2) of that Regulation, the annual activity level report or the climate-neutrality report;

(8) ‘scope of accreditation’ means activities referred to in Annex I for which accreditation is sought or has been granted;

(9) ‘competence’ means the ability to apply knowledge and skills to carry out an activity;

(10) ‘materiality level’ means the quantitative threshold or cut-off point above which misstatements, individually or when aggregated with other misstatements, are considered material by the verifier;

(11) ‘control system’ means the operator’s, aircraft operator’s or regulated entity’s risk assessment and entire set of control activities, including the continuous management thereof, that an operator, aircraft operator or regulated entity has established, documented, implemented and maintained pursuant to Article 59 or Article 75o of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066, or pursuant to Article 11 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331, as appropriate;

(12) ‘control activities’ means any acts carried out or measures implemented by the operator, aircraft operator or regulated entity to mitigate inherent risks;

(13) ‘non-conformity’ means one of the following: (a) for the purposes of verifying an operator’s or regulated entity’s emission report, any act or omission of an act by the operator or regulated entity that is contrary to the greenhouse gas emissions permit and the requirements in the monitoring plan approved by the competent authority; (b) for the purposes of verifying an aircraft operator’s emission report or an aircraft operator’s non-CO2 aviation effects report, any act or omission of an act by the aircraft operator that is contrary to the requirements in the monitoring plan approved by the competent authority; (c) for the purposes of verifying the baseline data report submitted by the operator pursuant to Article 4(2)(a) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331, the new entrant data report submitted by the operator pursuant to Article 5(2) of that Regulation or the annual activity level report, any act or omission of an act by the operator that is contrary to the requirements in the monitoring methodology plan; (ca) for the purposes of verifying a climate-neutrality report, any act or omission of an act by the operator that is contrary to the specifications in the climate-neutrality plan; (d) for the purposes of accreditation pursuant to Chapter IV, any act or omission of an act by the verifier that is contrary to the requirements of this Regulation;

(14) ‘site’ means: (a) for the purposes of verifying the emission report or non-CO2 aviation effects report of an aircraft operator: the locations where the monitoring process is defined and managed, including the locations where relevant data and information are controlled and stored; (b) for the purposes of verifying the regulated entity’s report: the locations where the monitoring process is defined and managed, including the locations where relevant data and information about fuel amounts released by the regulated entity for consumption in activities listed in Annex III to Directive 2003/87/EC are determined, controlled and stored by the regulated entity;

(15) ‘control environment’ means the environment in which the internal control system functions and the overall actions of an operator's, aircraft operator's or regulated entity's management to ensure awareness of this internal control system;

(16) ‘inherent risk’ means the susceptibility of a parameter in the operator’s or aircraft operator’s report or regulated entity’s report to misstatements that could be material, individually or when aggregated with other misstatements, before taking into consideration the effect of any related control activities;

(17) ‘control risk’ means the susceptibility of a parameter in the operator’s or aircraft operator’s report or regulated entity’s report to misstatements that could be material, individually or when aggregated with other misstatements, and that will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis by the control system;

(18) ‘verification risk’ means the risk, being a function of inherent risk, control risk and detection risk, that the verifier expresses an inappropriate verification opinion when the operator’s or aircraft operator’s report or regulated entity’s report is not free of material misstatements;

(19) ‘reasonable assurance’ means a high but not absolute level of assurance, expressed positively in the verification opinion, as to whether the operator’s or aircraft operator’s report or regulated entity’s report subject to verification is free from material misstatement;

(20) ‘analytical procedures’ means the analysis of fluctuations and trends in the data including an analysis of the relationships that are inconsistent with other relevant information or that deviate from predicted amounts;

(21) ‘internal verification documentation’ means all internal documentation that a verifier has compiled to record all documentary evidence and justification of activities that are carried out for the verification of an operator’s or aircraft operator’s report or regulated entity’s report;

(22) ‘EU ETS lead auditor’ means an EU ETS auditor in charge of directing and supervising the verification team, who is responsible for performing and reporting on the verification of an operator’s or aircraft operator’s report or regulated entity’s report;

(23) ‘EU ETS auditor’ means an individual member of a verification team responsible for conducting a verification of an operator’s or aircraft operator’s report or regulated entity’s report other than the EU ETS lead auditor;

(24) ‘technical expert’ means a person who provides detailed knowledge and expertise on a specific subject matter needed for the performance of verification activities for the purposes of Chapter III and for the performance of accreditation activities for the purposes of Chapter V;

(25) ‘level of assurance’ means the degree of assurance the verifier provides on the verification report based on the objective of reducing the verification risk according to the circumstances of the verification engagement;

(26) ‘assessor’ means a person assigned by a national accreditation body to perform individually or as part of an assessment team an assessment of a verifier pursuant to this Regulation;

(27) ‘lead assessor’ means an assessor who is given the overall responsibility for assessing a verifier pursuant to this Regulation;

(28) ‘baseline data report’ means a report submitted by an operator pursuant to Article 4(2) of Delegated Regulation (EU)  2019/331;

(29) ‘new entrant data report’ means a report submitted by an operator pursuant to Article 5(2) of Delegated Regulation (EU)  2019/331;

(30) ‘activity level reporting period’ means the applicable period preceding the submission of the annual activity level report pursuant to Article 3(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1842;

(31) ‘climate-neutrality report’ means a report submitted by an operator pursuant to Article 3b(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1842;

(32) ‘climate-neutrality reporting period’ means, pursuant to Article 10a(1), fifth subparagraph, and Article 10b(4), fourth subparagraph, of Directive 2003/87/EC, the applicable period until 31 December 2025 and subsequently each five-year period ending 31 December of each fifth year thereafter.

Article 4

Presumption of conformity

Where a verifier demonstrates its conformity with the criteria laid down in the relevant harmonised standards as defined in Article 2, point 9, of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, or parts thereof, the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, it shall, with the exception of Articles 7(1) and (4), Article 22, Article 27(1), Articles 28, 31, 32, Articles 43b(1) and (4), Articles 43v and 43w of this Regulation, be presumed to comply with the requirements set out in Chapters II, III and IIIa of this Regulation in so far as the applicable harmonised standards cover those requirements.

Article 5

General framework for accreditation

Where no specific provisions concerning the composition of the national accreditation bodies or the activities and requirements linked to accreditation are laid down in this Regulation, the relevant provisions of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 shall apply.

CHAPTER II

VERIFICATION OF OPERATOR’S OR AIRCRAFT OPERATOR’S REPORTS

Article 6

Reliability of verification

A verified emission report, non-CO2 aviation effects report, baseline data report, new entrant data report, annual activity level report or climate-neutrality report shall be reliable for users. Those reports shall represent faithfully that, which they either purport to represent or may reasonably be expected to represent.

The process of verifying operator’s or aircraft operator’s report shall be an effective and reliable tool in support of quality assurance and quality control procedures, providing information upon which an operator or aircraft operator can act to improve performance in monitoring and reporting emissions, non-CO2 aviation effects, data relevant for free allocation or data relevant for climate-neutrality reports, including in relation to milestones and targets.

Article 7

General obligations of the verifier

During the verification, the verifier shall assess whether:

(a) the operator’s or aircraft operator’s report is complete and meets the requirements laid down in Annex X to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066, in Annex IV to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331, Article 3(2) or Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1842, as appropriate;

(aa) the information in the operator’s or aircraft operator’s report pertaining to Annex Xa to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 is complete and meets the requirements laid down in that Annex;

(b) the operator or aircraft operator has acted in compliance with the requirements of the greenhouse gas emissions permit and the monitoring plan approved by the competent authority, where the verification of an operator’s emission report is concerned, and with the requirements of the monitoring plan approved by the competent authority, where the verification of an aircraft operator’s emission report or non-CO2 aviation effects report is concerned;

(c) where the verification of an operator’s baseline data report, new entrant data report or annual activity level report is concerned, the operator has acted in conformance with the requirements of the monitoring methodology plan pursuant to Article 8 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331 approved by the competent authority;

(ca) where the verification of an operator’s climate-neutrality report is concerned, the operator has acted in conformance with the specifications of the climate-neutrality plan pursuant to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2441 (³), in particular in relation to measures, milestones, investments and targets;

(d) the data in the operator's or aircraft operator's report are free from material misstatements;

(e) information can be provided in support of the operator's or aircraft operator's data flow activities, control system and associated procedures to improve the performance of their monitoring and reporting.

By way of derogation from point (b), the verifier shall assess whether the operator of an installation for the incineration of municipal waste as referred to in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC has acted in compliance with the monitoring plan where Member States have not required that installation to have a greenhouse gas emission permit as referred to in Article 4 of Directive 2003/87/EC.

For the purpose of point (d), the verifier shall obtain clear and objective evidence from the operator or aircraft operator to support the reported aggregated emissions, non-CO2 aviation effects, data relevant for free allocation or data relevant for climate-neutrality reports taking into account all other information provided in the operator’s or aircraft operator’s report.

If the monitoring methodology plan is subject to the approval of the competent authority prior to submission of the baseline data report pursuant to Article 8(4) of Delegated Regulation (EU)  2019/331 and the monitoring methodology plan has not been approved or is incomplete, or where significant modifications referred to in Article 9(5) of that Regulation have been made which have not been approved by the competent authority, the verifier shall advise the operator to obtain the necessary approval from the competent authority.

Following the approval by the competent authority, the verifier shall continue, repeat or adapt the verification activities accordingly.

If the approval has not been obtained before the issue of the verification report, the verifier shall report this in the verification report.

Article 8

Pre-contractual obligations

Before accepting a verification engagement, a verifier shall obtain a proper understanding of the operator or aircraft operator and assess whether it can undertake the verification. For this purpose the verifier shall at least:

(a) evaluate the risks involved to undertake the verification of the operator's or aircraft operator's report in accordance with this Regulation;

(b) undertake a review of the information supplied by the operator or aircraft operator to determine the scope of the verification;

(c) assess whether the engagement falls within the scope of its accreditation;

(d) assess whether it has the competence, personnel and resources required to select a verification team capable of dealing with the complexity of the installation or the aircraft operator's activities and fleet as well as whether it is capable of successfully completing the verification activities within the timeframe required;

(e) assess whether it is capable of ensuring that the potential verification team at its disposal holds all the competence, and persons required to carry out verification activities for that specific operator or aircraft operator;

(f) determine, for each verification engagement requested, the time allocation needed to properly carry out the verification.

Article 9

Time allocation

When determining the time allocation for a verification engagement referred to in Article 8(1)(f), the verifier shall at least take into account:

(a) the complexity of the installation or the aircraft operator's activities and fleet;

(b) the level of information and the complexity of the monitoring plan approved by the competent authority or the monitoring methodology plan, as appropriate;

(ba) the level of information and complexity of the climate-neutrality plan, where the verification of the climate-neutrality report is concerned;

(c) the required materiality level;

(d) the complexity and completeness of the data flow activities and the control system of the operator or aircraft operator;

(e) the location of information and data related to greenhouse gas emissions, non-CO2 aviation effects, data relevant for free allocation or data relevant for climate-neutrality reports.