The structures and processes of the European Energy Exchange (EEX) and the clearing subsidiary European Commodity Clearing (ECC) have proven again reliable and secure despite recent hacking attacks on diverse national emissions trading registries. The EU Commission has suspended all national and international transactions for all European EUA registries for safety reasons until 26 January 2011, 19:00 CET earliest. The declaration of the EU Commission can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/clima/news/index_en.htm.
ECC has implemented the security measures recommended by the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) and is not affected by the security breaches. Once again the established settlement processes of ECC have proven their stability.
Trading on the EEX Spot and Derivatives Market for emission rights is only affected to a small degree. Sales of Emission Allowances are only valid in so far they are covered by the existing ECC holdings of the selling trading member. Transactions with uncovered sales will be revoked by the exchange. Currently, only German Emission Allowances are deposited in the ECC registry account. Therefore it is nearly impossible that EUAs from hacking attacks are traded on the EEX.
The EUA Primary Auction planned for next week can be executed by EEX as scheduled.
Transactions on the EEX Spot Market will be settled on ECC internal accounts only, independently of the registries. Deliveries from and to the DEHSt account of ECC are currently not possible due to the suspension of the registries. The delivery of emission allowances through the registries will take place at a later date.
Due to the current situation EEX will closely monitor the legal conditions and latest developments and keep you informed accordingly. EEX will continue to commit itself to a thorough surveillance and the implementation of harmonized rules in emissions and energy trading in order to guarantee security and reliability of the markets.
The European Energy Exchange (EEX) develops, operates and connects secure, liquid and transparent markets. EEX holds 50 percent of the shares in EPEX Spot SE, which operates the Power Spot Market for Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland. German and French power derivatives trading is concentrated within EEX Power Derivatives GmbH, a majority-owned EEX subsidiary based in Leipzig. Furthermore, EEX offers spot and derivatives trading in natural gas and CO2 emission rights as well as trading in financial coal futures. EEX Group also includes European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC), the central clearing house for energy and related products in Europe.