Competent authorities
1. Each Member State shall designate one or more competent authorities responsible for monitoring and enforcing the application of this Regulation.
Member States shall notify the Commission of the names and contact details of their competent authorities by 5 February 2025. Member States shall notify the Commission without delay of any changes to the names or contact details of their competent authorities.
2. The Commission shall make the list of the competent authorities publicly available and shall regularly update that list upon receipt of a notification of any change from a Member State.
3. Member States shall ensure that the competent authorities establish a contact point and have adequate powers and resources to perform the tasks set out in this Regulation.
Tasks of the competent authorities
1. The competent authorities shall take, in performing their tasks, the necessary measures to ensure compliance with this Regulation.
2. Operators, undertakings, mine operators and importers shall provide the competent authorities with all assistance necessary to enable or facilitate the performance of the tasks of the competent authorities under this Regulation, in particular as regards presentation of documentation or records, access to the site and, where the site is located offshore, transport to or from the site.
3. The competent authorities shall cooperate with each other and with the Commission and may cooperate with authorities of third countries, in order to ensure compliance with this Regulation. The Commission shall set up a network of competent authorities to foster cooperation, with the necessary arrangements for exchanging information, in particular, on monitoring, regulating and compliance, and best practices and to allow for consultations. The contact points established within the competent authorities shall support those activities.
4. Where reports are to be made public in accordance with this Regulation, the competent authorities shall make them publicly available free of charge, on a designated website and in a freely accessible, downloadable and machine readable format.
Where information is withheld on one or more of the grounds referred to in Article 4 of Directive 2003/4/EC or, where applicable, under Union law on the protection of personal data, the competent authorities shall indicate the type of information that is withheld and the reasons therefor.
Inspections
1. Inspections shall include routine inspections for operators and mine operators and non-routine inspections for operators, undertakings, mine operators and importers, as set out in this Article.
2. Inspections shall include, where relevant, site checks or field audits, examination of documentation and records that demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Regulation, detection and measurement of methane emissions and any follow-up action undertaken by or on behalf of the competent authorities to check and promote compliance with the requirements of this Regulation.
Where an inspection has identified a serious breach of this Regulation, the competent authorities shall issue, as part of the report referred to in paragraph 5, a notice of remedial actions to be undertaken by the operator, undertaking, mine operator or importer, setting out clear deadlines for those actions.
Alternatively, the competent authorities may decide to instruct the operator, undertaking, mine operator or importer to submit to the relevant competent authority for approval a set of remedial actions to address the serious breaches which they have identified within 1 month from the date of conclusion of the inspection. Those actions shall be included in the report referred to in paragraph 5.
3. The first routine inspection shall be completed by 5 May 2026. After the first routine inspection, the competent authorities shall draw up programmes for routine inspections based on a risk assessment. The competent authority may decide on the scope and frequency of routine inspections, based on an appraisal of the risks associated with each site, such as environmental risk, including the cumulative impact of all methane emissions as a pollutant, human safety and health risks, as well as any identified breaches of this Regulation.
The period between inspections shall not exceed 3 years. Where an inspection has identified a serious breach of this Regulation, the subsequent inspection shall take place within 10 months.
4. Without prejudice to paragraph 3 of this Article, the competent authorities shall carry out non-routine inspections to:
(a)
investigate substantiated complaints referred to in Article 7 and occurrences of non-compliance as soon as possible after the date on which the competent authorities have become aware of such complaints or non-compliance and no later than 10 months after that date;
(b)
ensure, where deemed relevant by the competent authorities, that leak repairs or replacements of components were carried out in accordance with Article 14 and that mitigation measures were implemented in accordance with Articles 18, 22 and 26;
(c)
ensure compliance where a derogation has been granted under Article 14(5);
(d)
verify, where deemed relevant by the competent authorities, compliance by undertakings and importers with this Regulation.
5. Following each inspection, the competent authorities shall prepare a report stating the legal basis for the inspection, the procedural steps followed, the relevant findings and recommendations for further actions by the operator, undertaking, mine operator or importer, including the deadlines for their implementation.
Where appropriate, the competent authorities may prepare one report covering multiple inspections of assets, sites or components of the same operator, undertaking, mine operator or importer provided that such inspections are carried out before the next routine inspection.
The report shall be notified to the operator, undertaking, mine operator or importer concerned and made publicly available within 2 months of the date of the inspection. Where the inspection was triggered by a complaint made in accordance with Article 7, the competent authorities shall notify the complainant once the report is publicly available.
The report shall be made publicly available by the competent authorities in accordance with Directive 2003/4/EC. Where information is withheld on one or more of the grounds referred to in Article 4 of that Directive, the competent authorities shall indicate in the report the type of information that is withheld and the reasons therefor.
6. Where the report referred to in paragraph 5 concludes that an operator, undertaking, mine operator or importer does not comply with the requirements of this Regulation, it shall take all the necessary actions to bring its operations into compliance with this Regulation. The actions shall be taken without delay within the period set out by the competent authorities.
7. Member States may enter into formal agreements with relevant institutions, bodies, agencies or services of the Union or with other Member States or other appropriate intergovernmental organisations or public bodies, where available, for the provision of specialised expertise to support their competent authorities in carrying out the tasks attributed to them by this Article.
For the purposes of this paragraph, an intergovernmental organisation or public body shall not be deemed appropriate where its objectivity may be compromised by a conflict of interest.
Complaints
1. Any natural or legal person may lodge a written complaint with the competent authorities concerning a potential infringement of this Regulation by an operator, undertaking, mine operator or importer.
2. The complaint shall be duly substantiated and contain sufficient evidence of the alleged infringement.
3. Where it becomes apparent that the complaint does not provide sufficient evidence to justify an investigation, the competent authorities shall inform the complainant within a reasonable time but not later than 2 months from receipt of the complaint, of the reasons for their decision not to open an investigation.
This paragraph shall not apply where complaints that are not sufficiently substantiated are repeatedly lodged and for that reason deemed abusive by the competent authorities.
4. Without prejudice to paragraph 3 and the applicable national law, the competent authorities shall keep the complainant informed of the steps taken in the procedure and, where applicable, inform the complainant of appropriate alternative forms of redress, such as recourse to national courts or any other national or international complaints procedure.
5. Without prejudice to the applicable national law and on the basis of comparable procedures, the competent authorities shall establish and make publicly available indicative periods to take a decision on complaints.
Verification activities and verification statement
1. Verifiers shall carry out verification activities to assess the conformity of the emissions reports submitted to them by operators, undertakings, mine operators or importers, with the requirements of this Regulation. Those verification activities shall include the review of all data sources and methodologies used in order to assess the reliability, credibility and accuracy of the emissions reports, in particular the following:
(a)
the choice and employment of emission factors;
(b)
the methodologies, calculations, samplings or statistical distributions leading to the determination of methane emissions;
(c)
any risk of inappropriate measuring or reporting;
(d)
any quality control or quality assurance systems applied by the operators, undertakings, mine operators or importers.
2. In carrying out the verification activities referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, verifiers shall use the standards and technical prescriptions, as applicable, for methane emissions measurement and quantification, and mitigation established in accordance with Article 32.
Until the application date of those standards and technical prescriptions as applicable, operators, undertakings, mine operators and importers, as applicable, shall provide information to the verifiers on the relevant standards, including European or other international standards, or methodologies used by them, for the purpose of verification activities.
Verification activities shall also include, where relevant, announced and unannounced site checks to assess the reliability, credibility and accuracy of the data sources and methodologies used.
3. The verification activities referred to in this Article shall be aligned with European or other international standards and methodologies for verifiers in order to limit the burden on operators, undertakings, mine operators or importers, and on competent authorities and shall take due account of the nature of the verified activities and guidance issued by the Commission in that respect.
4. If, following the verifier’s assessment, the verifier concludes with reasonable assurance that the emissions report complies with the requirements of this Regulation, the verifier shall issue a verification statement attesting the conformity of the emissions report and specifying the verification activities carried out.
The verifier shall issue a verification statement only where reliable, credible and accurate data and information allow for methane emissions to be determined with a reasonable degree of certainty and provided that the reported data is coherent with the estimated data, complete and consistent.
If, following the verifier’s assessment, the verifier concludes that the emissions report does not comply with the requirements of this Regulation, the verifier shall inform the operator, the undertaking, the mine operator or the importer of that conclusion and provide reasoned feedback to the operator, the undertaking, the mine operator or the importer in light of recognised standards. The operator, the undertaking, the mine operator or the importer shall submit a revised emissions report to the verifier without delay and within the deadline set by the verifier.
5. Operators, undertakings, mine operators and importers shall provide verifiers with all the assistance necessary to enable or facilitate the performance of the verification activities, in particular as regards access to the site and the presentation of documentation or records.
Independence and accreditation or authorisation of verifiers
1. Verifiers shall be independent from the operators, undertakings, mine operators and importers and shall carry out verification activities under this Regulation in the public interest. For that purpose, neither the verifier nor any part of the same legal entity shall be an operator, undertaking, mine operator or importer, or own an operator, undertaking, mine operator or importer, or be owned by an operator, undertaking, mine operator or importer.
Verifiers shall not have relations with operators, undertakings, mine operators or importers that could affect their independence and impartiality.
2. Verifiers that are legal persons shall be accredited by a national accreditation body pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 765/2008.
Where no specific provisions concerning the accreditation of verifiers are laid down in this Regulation, Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 shall apply.
3. Member States may decide to authorise natural persons to be verifiers for the purposes of this Regulation. Those verifiers shall be authorised by a national authority that is different from the national accreditation body appointed pursuant to Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008.
4. Where a Member State decides to apply paragraph 3, it shall ensure that the relevant national authority complies with this Regulation and provides the Commission and the other Member States with all the documentary evidence necessary for the verification of the competence of the verifiers authorised under that paragraph.
Use and sharing of information
1. In performing their tasks and exercising their powers under this Regulation, the Commission, competent authorities and verifiers shall consider the information made publicly available by the International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) or the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP), or other relevant internationally available information, in particular information on:
(a)
aggregation of methane emissions data in accordance with appropriate statistical methods;
(b)
verification and validation of methodologies and statistical processes used by the industry to quantify methane emissions data;
(c)
development of data aggregation and analysis methodologies in accordance with scientific and statistical good practice to ensure a higher level of accuracy of methane emission estimates, with appropriate characterisation of the uncertainty;
(d)
publication of aggregated reported data by core source and by level of reporting, classified by, where available, operated and non-operated assets, in compliance with competition and confidentiality requirements;
(e)
reporting of findings on major discrepancies between data sources contributing to build more robust scientific methodologies;
(f)
reporting of super-emitting events identified by way of an early detection and warning system.
2. The Commission shall submit to the IMEO publicly available methane emissions data that it deems relevant, as made available to the Commission by the competent authorities in accordance with this Regulation.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
