Commission Decision of 14 December 2006 determining the respective emission levels allocated to the Community and each of its Member States under the Kyoto Protocol pursuant to Council Decision 2002/358/EC (notified under document number C(2006) 6468) (2006/944/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Decision 2002/358/EC of 25 April 2002 concerning the approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the joint fulfilment of commitments thereunder^f1, and in particular Article 3 thereof,

Whereas:

Annex II to Decision 2002/358/EC sets quantified emission limitation or reduction commitments for the purpose of determining the X1respective emission levels allocated to the Community and its Member States subject to Article 4 of the Kyoto Protocol. Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol sets quantified emission limitation or reduction commitments for the purpose of determining the emission levels allocated to the Member States that acceded to the Community after 25 April 2002, except Cyprus and Malta which do not yet have quantified emission limitation or reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

The respective emission levels allocated to the Community and its Member States, expressed in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, are determined in the Annex to this Decision. These emission levels are calculated on the basis of the revised base-year emissions data submitted by Member States pursuant to Article 23 of Commission Decision 2005/166/EC of 10 February 2005 laying down rules implementing Decision 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol^f2, multiplied by the quantified emission limitation or reduction commitments set out in Annex II to Decision 2002/358/EC and Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol, multiplied by five, to represent the five years of the Protocol's first commitment period.

In accordance with Article 3 of Decision 2002/358/EC, the assigned amounts of the Community and of each Member State have to be equal to their respective emission level determined in the Annex to this Decision.

The revision of emissions data for the base-year under the Kyoto Protocol, submitted by Member States pursuant to Article 23 of Decision 2005/166/EC, required a recalculation resulting in an arithmetic difference of 11 403 608 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent between the assigned amount for the European Community and the sum of the assigned amounts of the Member States listed in Annex II to Decision 2002/358/EC. This difference should be issued as assigned amount units by the Community.

Any changes in the final emission levels of the Community and its Member States resulting from the review of the emission levels pursuant to Article 8 of the Kyoto Protocol should be specified through an amendment to this Decision.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Climate Change Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: