Following the partial activation in January of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) single registry for aircraft operators, the full activation of the single registry, including the migration of over 30,000 EU ETS accounts from national registries, is scheduled to take place in June.

The transition timetable is as follows:

* Starting on 14 May at 10:00 CEST, account holders will not be able to open or close accounts or to modify account and account representative details, neither in national registries nor in the single registry.

* From 3 June at 10:00 CEST, the operation of national registries and the single registry will be suspended and account holders will not be able to access registry accounts - including allowances held in these accounts.

* On 20 June at 12:00 CEST, the single registry will be fully activated. Users of existing national registries will be able to use the single registry as soon as they receive their new authentication credentials from their national administrator.

Account holders will have to comply with increased documentation requirements and security features to access the transferred accounts in the single registry. Account holders will not be able to transfer any allowances until all necessary documentation requirements are completed.

National help desks will continue to provide support to account holders in particular in case of questions or difficulties during the transition.

Should any change to this schedule become necessary during the transition period, updated information will be communicated on this website.

The single registry to be activated in June will not contain all the required functionalities for the phase 3 (2013-2020).

In particular, the update currently in preparation will cover functions enabling phase 3 auctions, new account categories and a trusted account list. Software development for this first update has already commenced and the scheduled timetable will be communicated by 15 July.

EU ETS is a cornerstone of the European Union's policy to combat climate change and its key tool for reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively.

Being the first and biggest international scheme for the trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances, it covers some 11,000 power stations and industrial plants in 30 countries, which are responsible for almost half of the EU's CO2 emissions.