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Article 25 1bis of Directive 2003/87/ EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of October 13, 2003, which establishes a regime for the trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances in the Union, provides the possibility of concluding agreements with third countries that allow the recognition of emission allowances between the EU ETS and other mandatory greenhouse gas emission allowances trading regimes, provided that these are compatible with the EU ETS and that they establish maximum limits of emissions in absolute terms in any other country or sub-federal or regional entity.
Thus, on January 1, 2020, the Agreement between the European Union and the Swiss Confederation regarding the linking of their greenhouse gas emission allowances trading regimes came into force.
As a consequence of the application of said agreement, as of September 21, 2020, the Union Registry will allow the possession of emission allowances issued by the Swiss Confederation, which may be used to comply with the obligations of the EU ETS (as well as the emission allowances issued in the EU ETS may also be used to comply with the obligations of the Swiss emission allowances trading scheme), according to the limitations established in Directive 2003/87/ EC, and will be distinguishable in the balances of the accounts opened in it.
In particular, transfers of Swiss allowances will be subject to the same enforcement rules when carried out between source and destination accounts opened in the Union Registry. However, transfers made between the Union Registry and the Swiss Registry will be subject to execution on specific calendar days (execution in "admission windows"). As from beginning of 2023 and in accordance with the current linking arrangements, transfers to the other system (registry) are performed on a regular basis every Tuesday and Thursday except for the dates that you will find in the following link: https://climate.ec.europa.eu/news-your-voice/news/2024-arrangement-execution-transfers-between-emission-trading-registries-eu-and-switzerland-2023-11-21_en
The 2023 arrangements provide for more dates for the execution of transfers between the emissions trading system. It covers a period of 12 months, starting from January and ending in December 2023.
On the other hand, in case of air operators, a “single window” system has been implemented, through which those air operators that are subject to both the EU ETS and the Swiss scheme will only need an account in one of the two Registrations, receiving the free assignment and making the corresponding delivery to the other Registry through said account. Likewise, compliance will be computed through the principle of preferential delivery: in practice, an air operator with an account in the Union Registry that is subject to the two schemes and that makes a delivery corresponding to an amount less than the sum of the obligations in the EU ETS and the Swiss scheme, will be computed firstly for compliance with the Swiss scheme, and secondly, for compliance with the EU ETS.
If more information should be necessary in relation to the link, we recommend reading the frequently asked questions documents prepared by the European Commission, the links of which are provided below, as well as sending your inquiries to the electronic mailbox buzon-sgce@miteco.es.