Criteria for participation

In this part of the website you find information and a decision tree to help you to determine whether or not the European directive on emissions trading applies to your operations.

Which aircraft operators are required to participate in emissions trading?
The aviation activities that are included in the scheme are listed in Annex I of the directive on emissions trading. All operators who perform aviation activities which are defined in annex-1 of the European directive have to participate in the emissions trading scheme. In principle it applies to all flights to and from EEA Member States (27 EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). Therefore, operators not established in one of the Member States must also participate in the emissions trading scheme if they operate flights to or from Member States. Some activities however have been exempted from the emissions trading scheme. The exemptions are also listed in annex-I of the directive.

Where can I find more information about the exemptions listed in annex I?
The European commission drafted a decision in which a more detailed interpretation of aviation activities is given. For each exemption an interpretation is given, also in relation to exemption codes used by the Eurocontrol’s Central Route Charges Office (CRCO).

What is the list of operators?
The European Commission published a list naming operators whose activities in the past (after 1 januari 2006) could lead to an obligation to participate in the emissions trading scheme. The list states the EU member state that has been designated as the 'administering Member State' for each specific operator. The list of participating operators will be updated each year to allow the addition of new operators.

What is the status of the list of operators?
The annex-I of aviation activities is leading. If an aircraft operator performs an aviation activity listed in annex-I to, it falls under the Community scheme independently of whether it is on the list of aircraft operators published by the Commission. If an operator is on the list but it does not perform any aviation activities listed in annex-I anymore, the operator does not fall under the community scheme and does not have any legal requirements under Dutch legislation.

Commercial or non-commercial air transport operator
Flights performed by a commercial aircraft operator operating fewer than 243 flights per period for three consecutive four-month periods or operating flights with total annual emissions lower than 10 000 tonnes per year are exempted. This threshold is however not applicable for non commercial operators. All commercial air transport operators must hold an air operator's certificate (AOC) under Part I of Annex 6 to the Chicago Convention. Operators without such a certificate are “non-commercial air transport operators” under definition of the directive.

Identifying flights which are performed by an air transport operator
The monitoring and reporting guidelines states the boundaries for operators.  For the purpose of identifying the aircraft operator as defined by Article 3(o) of  the Directive, the call sign used for Air Traffic Control (ATC) purposes shall be used. The call sign is the ICAO designator in box 7 of the flight plan or, if not available, the registration marking of the aircraft.
So all flight for which your ICAO designator or your registration marking is used in the call sign in box 7 of the flight plan are your responsibility and have to be taken into account to determine whether or not you have to participate in the emissions trading scheme.
In the situation you perform ACMI operations, use code sharing, lease in or lease out aircrafts, you will have to identify which ICAO designator is used in the flight plans and take only these flight into account.

Decision tree
If you want to determine whether or not your activities are included in the emissions trading scheme and whether or not you have any obligations under the scheme you can use the decision tree.