Commission Regulation (EU) 2026/784 of 26 March 2026 amending Regulation (EC) No 748/2009 to update the list of aircraft operators performing an aviation activity listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Union and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC (1), and in particular Article 18a(3), point (b), thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Commission Regulation (EC) No 748/2009 (2) establishes a list of aircraft operators which performed, on or after 1 January 2006, an aviation activity listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC. That list specifies the administering Member State for each aircraft operator referred to in Article 18a(3), point (a), of that Directive.

(2) The inclusion of an aircraft operator in the EU ETS is not dependent on the inclusion of an aircraft operator in the list of aircraft operators established by the Commission on the basis of Article 18a(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC. It depends rather on the performance of an aviation activity listed in Annex I to that Directive.

(3) Pursuant to Article 18a(3), point (b), of Directive 2003/87/EC, from 2024, the list of the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 748/2009 is to be updated every two years to include aircraft operators that have performed an aviation activity listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC and to remove from it aircraft operators that have not performed such activity during the four consecutive calendar years preceding the updating of that list.

(4) Such updated list should be established based on the latest data provided by Eurocontrol on aircraft operators which performed an aviation activity listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC.

(5) Regulation (EC) No 748/2009 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Amendments to Regulation (EC) No 748/2009

The Annex to Regulation (EC) No 748/2009 is replaced by the text set out in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 26 March 2026.

For the Commission, On behalf of the President, Wopke HOEKSTRA Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 32, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2003/87/oj.

(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 748/2009 of 5 August 2009 on the list of aircraft operators which performed an aviation activity listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC on or after 1 January 2006 specifying the administering Member State for each aircraft operator (OJ L 219, 22.8.2009, p.1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2009/748/oj).