(1)

Directive 2003/87/EC, as amended by Directive (EU) 2023/959 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2), provides for the inclusion of maritime transport emissions within the system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Union (the ‘EU ETS’).

(2)

In order to reduce the administrative burden on shipping companies, Directive 2003/87/EC provides for one Member State to be responsible for each shipping company. Pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC, the Member State responsible for administering a shipping company is referred to as the ‘administering authority in respect of a shipping company’.

(3)

In the context of general maritime law, the notion of ‘shipping company’ refers to the entity entrusted with managing the vessel and cannot be modified by a bilateral agreement between the parties. However, this general approach is not the most appropriate in the context of the EU ETS, which is the object of the present act. It is necessary in this specific context of the EU ETS to address the obligations to the entity that is more apt to take the necessary measures in this respect. Contrary to what happens in general maritime law, this entity may be different from the entity entrusted with the actual management of the vessel. In view of this fact, it is necessary to depart, for the purpose of the EU ETS, from the meaning of the notion of ‘shipping company’ in general maritime law in order to allow the parties to agree contractually among them on the identity of the entity that is entrusted with the obligations following from the EU ETS.

(4)

In order to ensure equal treatment of shipping companies, Member States should follow harmonised rules for the administration of shipping companies for which they have responsibility. To guarantee the proper enforcement of the EU ETS and to take account of the differences between the EU ETS and general maritime law, Member States should ensure that where the organisation or person that has assumed the responsibility for the operation of the ship from the shipowner and that, on assuming such responsibility, has agreed to take over all the duties and responsibilities imposed by the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention, set out in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 336/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) has also assumed responsibility for the EU ETS obligations, such organisation or person has been duly mandated by the shipowner to comply with the national measures transposing Directive 2003/87/EC, including the obligation to surrender allowances under Articles 3gb and 12 of that Directive. To the extent this requirement deviates from the practice with regard to the definition of ‘shipping company’ in general maritime law, it is limited to the assumption of responsibility under the EU ETS.

(5)

To facilitate enforcement of the EU ETS, the organisation or person that has assumed responsibility for the EU ETS obligations should provide its administering authority in respect of a shipping company with information on ships under its responsibility.

(6)

The entities responsible for compliance with the obligations under Regulation (EU) 2015/757 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) and with the obligations under Directive 2003/87/EC must be clearly identified at all times. To this end, and with a view to ensuring coherence in administration and enforcement, Regulation (EU) 2015/757 provides that the same entity must be responsible for both.

(7)

Article 3gf(1) and (3) of Directive 2003/87/EC contains the provisions governing the attribution of each shipping company to its administering authority in respect of a shipping company. To ensure equal treatment of shipping companies, it is necessary to provide for harmonised detailed rules on the attribution of shipping companies to Member States. The rules for the attribution of a shipping company to a Member State include the country of registration of the shipping company, which should be based on information recorded in Thetis MRV, the dedicated Union information system developed and operated by the European Maritime Safety Agency that supports the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2015/757. The attribution of shipping companies that are not registered in a Member State should be based on port calls data stored in the Union maritime information and exchange system established by Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) (SafeSeaNet). The port calls data might be supplemented with information from other information systems, as appropriate.

(8)

In addition, it is necessary to establish detailed attribution rules for shipping companies that are not registered in a Member State and that did not carry out any voyage falling within the scope set out in Article 3ga of Directive 2003/87/EC in the preceding 4 monitoring years and whose first voyage within the scope of that Directive is a voyage between ports under the jurisdiction of two Member States, and for shipping companies that are not registered in a Member State and that have their greatest number of port calls in two or more Member States. To ensure a smooth implementation of the EU ETS, Member States should exchange information in the case of change of administering authority in respect of a shipping company of a given shipping company.

(9)

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