Romania Seeks Derogation From EC Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulations For 13 Penalized Companies

People close to the matter told MEDIAFAX that Romania’s Economy Ministry, Environment Ministry and the Department for European Affairs presented during a Government meeting a memorandum to cancel the 13 companies’ sanctions.

The sources said Romanian authorities will address the matter to the EC considering that, in the case of some of the sanctioned companies, the level of penalties is double compared to their turnover.

The sources said the 13 companies submitted their greenhouse gas certificates with the National Registry for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in May, instead of April 30, the legal deadline. According to the National Agency for Environment Protection, the 13 companies must pay sanctions for 213,147 overdue certificates.

A greenhouse gas certificate allows a company to release one ton of carbon dioxide in a specified interval.

Companies are allowed to release a certain amount of carbon dioxide annually and they must return to the National Registry for Greenhouse Gas Emissions a number of certificates to correspond to this amount by April 30. If companies fail to return their greenhouse certificates in time, they must pay EUR100 for each ton of released carbon dioxide.

Romania is allowed to release 379.7 million tons of greenhouse gas in the 2008 and 2012 interval.