The EEA Joint Committee has adopted in the EEA Agreement, Regulation (EU) No 421/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 amending Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community, in a view of the implementation by 2020 of an international agreement applying a single global market-based measure to international aviation emissions. The Regulation will in continuance be adopted in Icelandic law. 

The Environment Agency of Iceland would like to stress that aircraft operators do not need to report emissions for the 2013 compliance cycle nor surrender allowances for the 2013 cycle until 2015, and furthermore that the Environment Agency will issue free allowances to aircraft operators before 1 September 2014. Other important issues of the Regulation are: 

• A temporary exemption for flights performed by non-commercial aircraft operators with total annual emissions lower than 1.000 tonnes CO2 per year. The threshold is based on the full scope, all flights that depart from or arrive in an aerodrome located in the EEA. The exemption applies from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020. 
• Small aircraft operators emitting less than 25.000 tonnes per year can determine their emissions by using the small emitters tool approved under Commission Regulation No 606/2010 which is implemented by Regulation 72/2013 on monitoring and reporting, and populated by Eurocontrol data from its ETS support facility, and do not need a verification by and independent verifier. 
• The scope of reporting and surrendering for aircraft operators above the 1.000 tonnes CO2 threshold will be based on flights between aerodromes in the EEA, excluding flights to and from outermost regions but including flights between aerodromes located in the same outermost region. 

The European Commission has also updated the FAQ on their website and we encourage aircraft operators to read carefully through both the FAQ and the updated Regulation as well.