AEGIS Europe supports the Joint Statement of the CBAM Sectors on the Intransparency of the CBAM Registry vs. ETS Registry
/The public consultation on the draft Regulation on CBAM Registry offers the opportunity for a first reflection on the design and functioning of the electronic infrastructure required for the implementation of the instrument. While preserving the confidentiality of business sensitive information, a high degree of transparency of the CBAM Registry is indispensable for public scrutiny and input, which can lead to more robust and well-considered policies.
Against this background, the signatories of this paper would like to highlight their serious concerns about the expected level of intransparency of the CBAM Registry, especially when compared with the EU ETS Registry. This is due to combination of the provisions of the draft CBAM Registry Regulation as well as those of the basic CBAM Regulation 2023/956. According to the current CBAM legal framework (in particular article 21 of the draft CBAM Registry Regulation and article 14 of the basic CBAM Regulation 2023/956), de facto all information in the CBAM Registry will be deemed as confidential.
The Commission would publish only an annual report on total aggregated emissions by CBAM good. On the contrary, the EU ETS Registry Regulation 389/2013 (Annex IX) provides public access to most of the relevant information included in the registry, such as contact details of European installations as well as details on total emissions and free allocation for each installation.
This high level of transparency is linked to the explicit reference of recital 28 of the ETS Registry Regulation to Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to environmental information. Instead, no reference to the same legislation is included in the Draft CBAM Registry Regulation.
Against this background, the signatories urge EU institutions to revise the draft CBAM Registry Regulation as well as reviewing the relevant provisions of the basic CBAM Regulation in the context of the 2025 revision in order to ensure that the CBAM registry is as transparent as the EU ETS Registry. For instance, such consistency requires that contact details of CBAM declarants and third country operators as well as total emissions and total available CBAM certificates for each of them are made publicly accessible.