Airlines EU ETS Update

As expected following the Advocate General’s Opinion, delivered on 6 October 2011, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Wednesday 21 December 2011 that the application of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to airline operators flying in and/or out of the EU was lawful. The ECJ rejected the objections of US, Canadian and Chinese airline operators that the imposition of the EU ETS infringed a number of principles of customary international law and various international agreements. According to them, the directive infringes, first, the Chicago Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Open Skies Agreement (in particular because it imposes a form of tax on fuel consumption), and second, certain principles of customary international law in that it seeks to apply the allowance trading scheme beyond the European Union’s territorial jurisdiction. For the full story download here