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Union registry for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products, and certification registries

1. The Commission shall establish by 27 December 2028 and thereafter duly maintain a Union registry for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products, to make publicly available the information related to the certification process in an accessible way, containing, as a minimum, the information set out in Annex III. When establishing the Union registry, the Commission shall take into account the reports referred to in Article 30(5), point (a), of Directive 2003/87/EC and Article 17(3) of Regulation (EU) 2018/841. The Union registry shall use automated systems, including electronic templates, to make publicly accessible in a secure way the information related to the certification process, including the certificates of compliance and updated certificates of compliance, to enable the tracing of the quantity of certified units and avoid double counting. The Union registry shall be financed by annual fixed fees payable by users. Those fees shall be proportionate to the use of the Union registry and sufficient to contribute to the coverage of the establishment costs and annual operating costs of the Union registry, such as those for staff or IT tools. Resources from such fees shall constitute external assigned revenue for the purpose of Article 21(5) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046. That revenue shall, in particular, cover the costs of IT tools, services and security, including the operation and licensing systems, and the costs of staff working on the management of the Union registry.

2. The Commission shall adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 16 to supplement this Article by laying down the necessary requirements concerning the Union registry, including rules to ensure sufficient oversight of the trading of certified units, and the factors to be considered for determining the level of fees referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and their recovery. During each last quarter of the year preceding the calendar year of application, the Commission shall adopt one or more implementing acts to set out or revise the individual amounts of the fees referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article to be applied for that calendar year.

3. Until the establishment of the Union registry, a certification scheme shall establish and duly maintain a certification registry to make publicly accessible in a secure way the information related to the certification process, including the certificates of compliance and updated certificates of compliance, containing, as a minimum, the information set out in Annex III, to enable the tracing of the quantity of units certified in accordance with Article 9. A certification registry shall use automated systems, including electronic templates, and shall be interoperable with registries of other recognised certification schemes in order to avoid double counting. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts setting out the structure, format and technical details of the certification registries and of the recording, holding or use of certified units, including as referred to in this paragraph. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 17.

4. Certified units shall be issued by certification registries or, once established, by the Union registry only after the generation of a net carbon removal benefit or net soil emission reduction benefit, based on a valid certificate of compliance resulting from a re-certification audit. Any certified unit shall not be issued more than once and shall not be used by more than one natural or legal person at any point in time. Permanent carbon removal units, carbon farming sequestration units, carbon storage in product units and soil emission reduction units shall remain distinct from one another.

5. Carbon farming sequestration units and carbon storage in product units shall expire at the end of the monitoring period for the relevant activity, and be cancelled in the certification registry or, once established, in the Union registry, unless the long-term storage of the removed carbon is proven through continued monitoring, in accordance with the rules set out in the applicable certification methodology.