German Emissions Trading Authority

Sanctioning

The annual surrender of emission allowances by 30/09/2023 (from the reporting year 2023; previously: 30/04) in the amount of the emissions caused in the previous calendar year is a central task in emissions trading (EU ETS 1) for you as an operator of stationary installations and aircraft. If you do not fulfill this obligation on time, you will be subject to penalties.

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Surrender obligation

The penalties for surrender obligation infringements were 40 euros per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the first trading period and 100 euros in the second trading period.

In the third trading period (2013-2020) the penalty escalates from 100 euros per tonne of CO2 in line with the increase in the European consumer price index for the respective reporting year compared to the reference year 2012 (see § 30 (1) TEHG).

The payment obligation for the individual reporting years amount
Reporting yearAmount of payment obligation
2013101.50 Euro
2014102.07 Euro
2015102.05 Euro
2016102.31 Euro
2017104.06 Euro
2018106.15 Euro
2019107.71 Euro
2020107.71 Euro
2021110.82 Euro
2022121.01 Euro
2023128.71 Euro

If you have surrendered the allowances according to your verified emissions report, no penalty will be imposed on you for any subsequent reporting errors discovered (see judgment of the European Court of 29/04/2015 to Az.: C-148/14).

However, if your report subsequently proves to be inaccurate and you have surrendered insufficient emission allowances to cover the emissions produced, you still remain obliged to surrender further allowances. Finally, a false report may constitute an offense (§ 32(1)(1) TEHG). This offense may be punished by a fine of up to 500,000 euros. In the case of sheer negligence, the fine is up to 50,000 euros (§ 32(4) TEHG).

532 correction and sanction measures have been initiated for stationary installations and 97 correction and sanction measures for aircraft operators in the reporting years 2013 to 2020 within the third trading period. These have resulted in 474 corrections in the Union Registry (VET value) of the emissions produced in the stationary sector and 92 corrections in the aviation sector. Legally binding fines amounting to a total of 2,670,890.51 euros have been stipulated due to breaches of the annual surrender liability in the third trading period.

In the fourth trading period, 65 correction and sanction measures for stationary installations and nine correction and sanction measures for aircraft operators have been initiated so far for the first two reporting years 2021 and 2022. These have so far resulted in 52 corrections to the emissions caused in the Union Registry (VET value) in the stationary sector and six corrections in the aviation sector. Due to violations of the annual surrender obligation, sanctions amounting to 7,979.04 euros have so far been imposed in the fourth trading period.

05/02/2024

Publication in the Federal Gazette

We regularly publish the names of the operators in the Federal Gazette who:

  • have surrendered fewer allowances than were reported in their verified emissions report by the applicable deadline, or
  • have not submitted a verified report or surrendered any emission allowances (§ 30(4) TEHG.) despite producing emissions.

Publication in the Federal Gazette must be preceded by a legally binding payment order.

Notices have recently been published in the editions of the Official Section of the Federal Gazette (Bundesanzeiger):

  • No. 78 of 28/05/2008
  • No. 134 of 09/09/2009
  • No. 196 of 29/12/2011

Further notices have been published in the Official Section of the electronic Federal Gazette (BAnz AT) under the following sources:

  • BAnz AT 24/09/2013 B8
  • BAnz AT 17/02/2015 B6
  • BAnz AT 21/02/2017 B5
  • BAnz AT 28/06/2017 B6
  • BAnz AT 06/11/2018 B13
  • BAnz AT 13/01/2020 B9
  • BAnz AT 25/01/2021 B11
  • BAnz AT 19/01/2022 B13
  • BAnz AT 15/03/2024 B13

Since the 3rd Trading Period 2012/2013 this applies to the following operators
Activity in calendar yearOperator/aircraft operatorFederal Gazette*
*For researching www.Bundesanzeiger.de please please choose your language in the upper right hand corner and enter the date publication into the search field „Search term”.
2012STAR ARIES SHIPMGMT25/01/2021
2012Club Saab 34025/01/2021
2012AgilesAviation GmbH & Co. KG25/01/2021
2013Fritz Winter Eisengießerei GmbH & Co KG21/02/2017
2013Reliance Commercial Dealers Ltd.21/02/2017
2013Rossiya Airlines Joint-Stock Company21/02/2017
2013Joint Stock Company Aeroflot - Russian Airlines06/11/2018
2014Rossiya Airlines Joint-Stock Company21/02/2017
2014Iraqi Airways Germany21/02/2017
2014Joint Stock Company Aeroflot - Russian Airlines06/11/2018
2015Rossiya Airlines Joint-Stock Company28/06/2017
2015BORAJET HAVACILIK28/06/2017
2015ATA CONCEPT GmbH28/06/2017
2015Joint Stock Company Aeroflot – Russian Airlines06/11/2018
2015Ilmaborglass GmbH25/01/2021
2016Rossiya Airlines Joint-Stock Company06/11/2018
2016Siberia Airlines06/11/2018
2016Joint Stock Company Aeroflot - Russian Airlines13/01/2020
2017Holzheizkraftwerk Horn GmbH & Co. KG13/01/2020
2017Iraqi Airways Company13/01/2020
2017ESWE Versorgungs AG25/01/2021
2017ImperialJet Europe GmbH25/01/2021
2017Air X Charter (Germany) GmbH & Co. KG15/03/2024
2018Blue Cube Germany Assets GmbH & Co. KG25/01/2021
2018Air Arabia Egypt25/01/2021
2018FlyEgypt25/01/2021
2019Carpenter GmbH19/01/2022
2019Rossiya Airlines Joint-Stock Company KG19/01/2022
2019Atlasjet Airlines (Atlasglobal Airlines)19/01/2022
2019Reliance Commercial Dealers Ltd.19/01/2022
2019Phoenix Compounding Technology GmbH15/03/2024
2021Celanese Production Germany GmbH & Co. KG15/03/2024
2021MIC Russian Aircraft15/03/2024
2021Siberia Airlines15/03/2024

27/03/2024

Official Section of the Federal Gazette (Bundesanzeiger)

Federal Gazette

Pub­li­ca­tions in the Of­fi­cial Sec­tion of the elec­tron­ic Fed­er­al Gazette

Account suspension

If you have not submitted an emission report for the previous calendar year by 31 March and not entered and confirmed any verified emissions in the Union Registry, we will suspend your account in accordance with § 29 TEHG. You can still fulfil your surrender obligations, but can no longer dispose of the allowances in your account. This means you cannot transfer your allowances to another account other than to surrender them.

The account suspension will not be lifted until a proper validated emission report has been submitted to us, or if we have estimated the emissions and made a corresponding entry in the Union Registry.

12/01/2024

Offences

The Emissions Trading Directive requires Member States to adopt sanctions if violations take place against national regulations (Art. 16 para 1). TEHG lists a number of offenses for which fines may be imposed.

Here we give you a brief overview:

Emission determination does not agree with the approved monitoring plan

If you fail to determine your emissions produced in accordance with the approved monitoring plan or the monitoring regulation, a fine of up to 500,000 euros may be imposed (pursuant to § 32(1)(1) in conjunction with § 32(2 and 4) TEHG).


If you have acted negligently, the fine is up to 50,000 euros. For example, this will concern cases where operators disregard additional provisions in the decision that approved the monitoring plan. Also, you are regarded as negligent if you are not sufficiently diligent when preparing the report, thereby entering erroneous information. If an error is present in the emissions report, we will contemplate imposing an appropriate fine.

Missing or late submitted monitoring plan

If you fail to submit a monitoring plan for the trading period or do not submit it correctly, completely or on time within the specific deadlines (Annex 2 Part 1 No. 1 letters a and b), you may be fined up to € 50,000 (pursuant to Section 32 (3) No. 4 in conjunction with Section 32 (4) TEHG).

Refusing to provide information and incorrect information

If we are hampered in our performance of tasks, you may be fined up to 50,000 euros. This may be the case if you refuse to provide information or fail to submit any requested documents and if we are not given information in time, or erroneous information is provided.

Aviation

If you do not correctly state your determined transport performance in the application in accordance with Section 11 TEHG, or if you do not submit additional information or evidence to verify your data to the responsible authority, or do not do so correctly, completely or in a timely manner, a fine up to 50,000 euros may be imposed in accordance with Section 32 (1) TEHG.

Maritime transport

If you do not report your carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport or do not report them in time, a fine of up to 50,000 euros may be imposed in accordance with Section 32 (3a) TEHG.

Report to the Central Register of Companies

Legally binding decisions regarding fines issued within the German Environment Agency’s (UBA) framework of offence procedures (see Section D) are reported to the Commercial Central Register (GZR) at the Federal Office of Justice (BfJ).

Section 153a(1)(1) and Section 149(2)(1)(3) of the Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulation Act (GewO) establish an obligation for such legally binding decisions regarding fines that have been based on offences committed

  • as part of or in connection with the practice of a trade or the operation of other economic companies or;
  • as part of practicing a trade or other economic companies by a representative or agent within the meaning of Section 9 of the German Offences Act (OWiG) or by a person expressly designated as the person responsible by a legal provision,

if the fine exceeds 200 euros.

Any ordinary person or legal entity may request information about violations of trade law provisions and legally binding decisions on fines arising from trade law infringements that have been entered in the Commercial Central Register (GZR), insofar as they concern their business or themselves.

More information can be found on the website of the Federal Office of Justice (BfJ).

12/01/2024

Federal Office of Justice website

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