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Law On The Mechanism Of Accountability Climate (1)

Original Language Title: Loi relative au mécanisme de responsabilisation climat (1)

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belgiquelex.be - Carrefour Bank of Legislation

6 JANVIER 2014. - Climate Accountability Mechanism Act (1)



PHILIPPE, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
CHAPTER 1er. - General provision
Article 1er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
CHAPTER 2. - Definitions
Art. 2. For the purposes of this Act:
1° Decision 406/2009/EC: Decision No. 406/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the effort to be made by Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to meet the Community's commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions until 2020;
2° Directive 2003/87/EC: Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a system for the exchange of greenhouse gas emission quotas in the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC;
3° emission inventories: the greenhouse gas emission inventories referred to in Article 65quater, § 5, of the special law of January 16, 1989 on the financing of the Communities and Regions, referred to as "the special law";
4th Minister: the federal minister who has the Environment in his or her duties;
5th Committee: the advisory committee referred to in Article 3, § 4;
6° trajectories: trajectories referred to in section 65quater of the special law;
7° first trajectories: the trajectories referred to in Article 65quater, § 3, paragraph 2, of the special law;
8° the following paths: the trajectories referred to in section 65quater, § 4, of the special law;
9th cooperation agreement of 18 June 2008: the cooperation agreement of 18 June 2008 between the Federal State, the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region on the organization and administrative management of the standardized and secure registry system of Belgium in accordance with the Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and the Council and Decision 280/2004//EC of the European Parliament and the Council;
10th cooperation agreement of 14 November 2002: the cooperation agreement of 14 November 2002 between the Federal State, the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region on the establishment, implementation and monitoring of a National Climate Plan, as well as reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol;
11° National Climate Commission: the commission established under Article 3 of the cooperation agreement of 14 November 2002;
12° adjudicator: the service responsible for the auction of the quotas for greenhouse gas emissions, referred to in section 65quater, paragraph 7, paragraph 2, of the special law;
13° Regulation on registers: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1193/2011 of 18 November 2011 establishing the Union register for the exchange period beginning 1er January 2013 and for the following exchange periods of the EU's emission quota system in accordance with Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and the Council and Decision No. 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and the Council and amending the Commission's Regulations (EC) No. 2216/2004 and (EU) No. 920/2010;
14th auction regulation: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1031/2010 of 12 November 2010 on the timing, management and other aspects of auctioning greenhouse gas emission quotas in accordance with Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a system for the exchange of greenhouse gas emission quotas in the Community.
CHAPTER 3. - Climate accountability mechanism
Art. 3. § 1er. The Federal Office of the Plan and the relevant regional services jointly carry out a study to ensure the application of a harmonized methodology at the national level, as well as to ensure coherence between the trajectories and the achievement of Belgium's emission reduction targets as a result of European legislation and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Protocols.
The Federal Office of the Plan provides the secretariat.
§ 2. In the realization of the study referred to in § 1erParagraph 1er, the Federal Office of the Plan and the relevant regional services are based, inter alia, on the projections of greenhouse gas emissions and the policies and measures reported by the federal State and the regions to the National Climate Commission in accordance with Article 11 of the cooperation agreement of 14 November 2002.
§ 3. The Federal Office of the Plan and the relevant regional services verify the definition of the perimeter of the building sector and its adequacy with the emission inventories in order to make it possible to verify the respect of the trajectory. They verify the harmonization of factors determining the projections referred to in § 2.
They ensure that, in order to achieve emission reduction targets, the effort to be made in the building sector according to the trajectories referred to in section 65quater, § 2, of the special law, will take into account the potential for reducing emissions from the building sector and the associated costs and benefits.
§ 4. In carrying out their activities referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3, the Federal Office of the Plan and the relevant regional services are assisted by an advisory committee composed of eight independent scientific experts, specialized in forecasting and assessing the impact of the policy on greenhouse gas emissions.
With regard to the first trajectories, the King, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, appoints, on the proposal of the Minister who has the Environment in his powers and the Minister who has Sustainable Development in his responsibilities, two members of the advisory committee of different linguistic roles. The Minister shall promptly inform the Federal Office of the Plan and the relevant regional services. Each regional government is also invited to appoint two members of the Advisory Committee for the same period and to inform the Minister of the Advisory Committee, who shall promptly inform the Federal Office of the Plan and the relevant regional services.
With respect to the following trajectories, the King appoints two members of the committee at least twenty-two months before the beginning of the corresponding period. The Minister shall promptly inform the Federal Office of the Plan and the relevant regional services. Each regional government is also invited, for the same period, to appoint two members of the committee and to inform the Minister at least twenty-two months before the beginning of the corresponding period. The Minister shall promptly inform the Federal Office of the Plan and the relevant regional services.
These independent experts cannot be members of a federal minister's strategic cell or a regional minister's office.
§ 5. The Federal Office of the Plan and the relevant regional services shall submit their analysis to the National Climate Commission no later than six months before the definition of trajectories in accordance with Article 65quater, § 2, paragraphs 1er3 and 4 of the special law.
This analysis is published by the Minister. It is communicated to the House of Representatives and the Parliaments of the Regions.
The National Climate Commission shall submit its proposal no later than three months before the definition of trajectories in accordance with Article 65quater, § 2, paragraph 1erand §§ 3 and 4 of the special law.
Art. 4. § 1er. Variances from trajectories are established for each year. These deviations are defined by the difference between the objective as determined by the trajectory for the year concerned in accordance with Article 65quater, § 2, of the special law and the level of greenhouse gas emissions of the building sector for that year, from the inventories referred to in Article 65quater, § 5, paragraph 1erthe special law, taking into account any corrections resulting from the initial verification carried out by the European Commission in accordance with the applicable legislation, and corrected according to the degrees-days (DJ) of the year reported by the Royal Institute of Meteorology according to the formula annexed.
§ 2. The amounts referred to in Article 65quater, §§ 5 and 6, of the special law are established annually by multiplying the deviations as defined in § 1er, expressed in tons of CO2 equivalents, by the average price of the emission quotas sold at auction during the same year under Article 10 of Directive 2003/87/EC. The average price is obtained by dividing the total amount of proceeds from the auction by the number of quotas sold by Belgium.
§ 3. The deviations from the trajectories and the corresponding amounts established in accordance with the provisions of §§ 1er and 2, are published annually to the Belgian Monitor.
§ 4. The duties of the buyer are as follows:
1° auction the amount of emission quotas awarded to Belgium in accordance with the regulations on the auction and settlement on the register and in accordance with the schedule of auctions determined by the European Commission;
2° to collect the proceeds of the auction that return to Belgium;
3° ensure that the proceeds from the auction are allocated in accordance with the cooperation agreement referred to in section 65quater, § 7, of the special law.
Each month, the buyer reports the revenues from the auction on the auction platform. This report is communicated to the federal government and the governments of the regions.
CHAPTER 4. - Amendment of the Organic Law of 27 December 1990 creating budgetary funds
Art. 5. Section 25 "Federal Public Service Public Health, Food and Environment Safety" of the table annexed to the Organic Law of 27 December 1990 creating budgetary funds, last amended by the Law of 29 December 2010, is supplemented as follows:
"25-11 Climate Accountability Fund
Nature of income affected:
1° The federal share of the proceeds of auctioning greenhouse gas emissions fees.
2° A portion of the proceeds of the tax of natural persons, corresponding to the amounts referred to in section 65quater, § 5, paragraph 2, of the special law of 16 January 1989 on the financing of the Communities and Regions.
Nature of authorized expenditures:
Provision to the regions of the amounts referred to in Article 65quater, § 5, paragraph 2, 1°, of the special law of 16 January 1989 on the financing of the Communities and Regions.
The income of the fund constituted by the share of the proceeds of the tax of the natural persons, corresponding to the amounts referred to in section 65quater, § 5, paragraph 2, 2°, of the same special law, is exclusively intended for any expenditure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Where the deviation or absence of deviation from the trajectory referred to in section 65quater, § 2, of the same special law has been permanently found for a given fiscal year, the fund balance is reduced by the difference for that year between the ceiling referred to in section 65quater, § 8, paragraph 1ersimilarly the special law and the sum, if any equal to zero, of the amounts referred to in section 65quater, § 5, paragraph 2, 1°, of the same special law. ".
CHAPTER 5. - Final provisions
Art. 6. Each regional government is invited to inform the Minister no later than two months after the publication of this Act which is the relevant regional service within the meaning of Article 3, § 1er. The Minister shall promptly inform the Federal Office of the Plan.
Art. 7. This Act comes into force on 1er January 2014, with the exception of sections 4 and 5, effective 1er July 2015.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 6 January 2014.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
The Prime Minister,
E. DI RUPO
The Minister of the Interior and Equal Opportunities,
Ms. J. MILQUET
The Secretary to the Environment and Institutional Reforms,
Mr. WATHELET
State Secretary to Institutional Reforms,
S. VERHERSTRAETEN
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. A. TURTELBOOM
____
Note
(1) House of Representatives (www.lachambre.be):
Documents: 53 2965
Full report: 27 and 28 November 2013.
Senate (www.senate.be):
Documents: 5-2370
Annales du Senate: December 17, 18 and 19, 2013.
Annex to the Climate Accountability Mechanism Act of 6 January 2014
The greenhouse gas emission levels of one year taken into consideration for the determination of deviations from the trajectories are previously corrected according to the degree-days (DJ 15/15) of the year, calculated on the basis of the temperatures observed at the station of the Royal Institute of Meteorology in Uccle.
The correction is made according to the following formula:
Corrected Emissions of DJs of year N =

For the consultation of the table, see image
In this formula:
- E is equal to kilotonnes of year N;
- by DJ 15/15 of year N, the sum of the differences, calculated each day of this year N, between the temperature of 15 degrees and the average external temperature of the day, the negative differences being reduced to zero;
- by standard DJ 15/15, the average of DJs 15/15 from 1990 to 2011, is 1880.