From 1 March 2011 the clearing house of the European Energy Exchange AG (EEX), European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC), will carry out the settlement of transactions in European emission allowances (EUA) separately for transactions from the Primary Market Auction and the Secondary Market to provide for a clear proof of origin.
To this end, ECC will establish two internal delivery accounts for every trading participant licensed for trading in EUA. The clearing house exclusively uses the first delivery account for the emission allowances acquired in the Primary Market Auction, while the second delivery account is used for transactions resulting from trading on the Secondary Market.
In the past, the EUA auctioned off by the German federal government were specifically marked by ECC so that every trading participant really received “new“ EUA in a requested delivery to its register account. The separation of the delivery accounts now enables the trading participant to effect separate administration and independent inventory management for the EUA acquired through different channels.
“With the help of this new function we want to give the trading participants additional security regarding the origin of emission allowances in a situation in which there is a high degree of confusion on the market“, emphasises Dr. Hans-Bernd Menzel, CEO of EEX AG.
“We very much welcome this measure by EEX because it helps to seal the transfer chain and prevents a possible mixing of EUA from the Primary Market with EUA which are already used on the Secondary Market. This confirms and strengthens the high degree of confidence in the German auction procedure“, underlines Dr. Hans-Jürgen Nantke, head of the German Emissions Trading Authority at the Federal Environment Agency.
At the same time, ECC will continue to closely monitor the submission of EUA traded on the Secondary Market. In this context, ECC reserves the right to reject EUA which are connected with cases of unauthorised access to various national emission registers or to reverse such to the respective submitting trading participant.
In addition, EEX and ECC are in close contact with the competent national and European authorities in order to safeguard secure and trouble-free emissions trading.
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.
The German Emissions Trading Authority at the Federal Environment Agency (DEHSt) is the competent national authority in charge of the implementation of Europe-wide emissions trading for stationary facilities and air transport. Its tasks include the allocation and issue of emission allowances, the examination of the emission reports and keeping of the emissions trading register. In the German auction procedure DEHSt, through the state-owned KfW Banking Group, has the function of the offeror of the quantity auctioned off. More information is available at: www.dehst.de.