Action Plan to address key challenges on importers’ requirements in the Methane Regulation
Eurogas and six other organisations have jointly published an action plan to address key challenges on importers' requirements in the EU Methane Regulation.
Read the full Action Plan here.
In the action plan, we outline the following challenges within the current implementation of the Methane Regulation, which are creating risks for the security and affordability of energy supply and feedstock to the EU:
- complex technical/operational requirements
- demanding timelines
- remaining regulatory uncertainties
- extraterritorial implications
We recommend that importers' obligations (like MRV equivalence and methane intensity reporting requirements) only apply after all elements required for implementation are in place, including relevant CEN/ISO standards.
We also urge a streamlined approach for the simplification of the EU Methane Regulation similar to that which has been applied by the Commission to simplify business rules. This was also supported in the 16 June Presidency Conclusions. To that end, we stand ready to assist.
Actions we recommend for the European Commission:
- Accelerate work on the secondary legislation so that the proposed grace period be kept to a minimum
- Dully assess all challenges and rapidly address Member States' concerns regarding the Methane Regulation
- Actively engage and cooperate with exporting countries and suppliers to overcome any issues related to implementation
Actions we suggest for Member States:
- Carefully prepare for implementation and ask for any guidance to do so; implement a unified grace period that properly reflects the challenges currently encountered, to be applied until the relevant rules are in place and operational
- Coordinate strongly between Member States, with the support of the Commission and involvement of ACER, notably through the network of competent authorities. This should deliver guidelines for Member State acceptance of voluntary frameworks for the certification and verification of methane attributes
- Ensure national implementation is consistent and harmonised, to increase capacity building, resource allocation and harmonised implementation
- Consider importers' efforts and their actual compliance options
Actions for the Industry:
- Signatories of this Action Plan are actively cooperating with the Member States and Commission with a view to address any issues related to EU MR implementation of the importers' requirements, notably by exploring voluntary compliance pathways
