Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 192(1), in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Whereas:

The Agreement between the European Union and the Swiss Confederation on the linking of their greenhouse gas emissions trading systems^f1 (‘the Agreement’) was signed on 23 November 2017 in accordance with Council Decision (EU) 2017/2240^f2.

The Agreement was concluded by Council Decision (EU) 2018/219^f3. Article 2(2) of that Decision provides that the instrument of approval of the Union is only to be notified when the Swiss Confederation has brought into force the requisite rules extending its ETS to aviation and section B of Annex I to the Agreement has been amended accordingly.

Article 13(2) of the Agreement provides that the Joint Committee may amend the Annexes to the Agreement.

The Joint Committee, during its meeting on 5 December 2019, is to adopt a Decision regarding the amendment of Annexes I and II to the Agreement.

It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken, on the Union’s behalf, within the Joint Committee with regard to the amendment of Annexes I and II to the Agreement, as the amended Annexes will be binding on the Union.

Once the Joint Committee has amended Annexes I and II to the Agreement to take account of relevant legislative developments, including the relevant Swiss rules extending the Swiss ETS to aviation, it will be considered that the conditions for linking set out in the Agreement have been fulfilled and that, therefore, the Union should notify its instrument of approval to the Swiss Confederation.

The position of the Union within the Joint Committee should therefore be based on the attached draft Decision,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: