Conditions for virtual site visit or waiver of the obligation to carry out a physical site visit
Article 3
1. The verifier may decide to carry out a virtual site visit or to waive the obligation to carry out a physical site visit provided that all of the following conditions are fulfilled: (a) a verifier has carried out a physical site visit during the reporting period immediately preceding the current reporting period; (b) in the case of a waiver of the obligation to carry out a physical site visit, a verifier has carried out a physical site visit during two reporting periods preceding the current reporting period; (c) the verifier has sufficient understanding of the installation’s functioning, the production processes and the monitoring and reporting system, including the operator’s control system; (d) the verifier considers that the nature and level of complexity of the installation’s monitoring and reporting system as well as the inherent and control risks are such that they do not require a physical site visit; (e) the verifier is able to obtain and assess remotely all information required for the verification, including on the correct application of the methodology described in the monitoring plan, the data reported in the operator’s emissions report, the production processes and precursors used; (f) the decision to carry out a virtual site visit or to waive the physical site visit is based on the results of the risk analysis, and the verifier has identified and taken the necessary measures to reduce the verification risk to an acceptable level to obtain reasonable assurance that the operator’s emissions report is free from material misstatements and non-conformities; (g) the installation or its monitoring plan has not undergone any significant changes or modifications since the last physical site visit, including any of the following significant changes: (1) starting of new production processes or production route or closing of production processes or production route; (2) changes in the joint production process of precursors and complex goods, as defined in Article 4(9) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547 on the calculation of embedded emissions; (3) changes in the energy supply of the installation; (4) changes of technical connections between production processes or production routes, such as additional or removed lines for transfer of fuels, materials, measurable heat, waste gases or goods produced; (5) where actual values are used, changes relating to precursors produced at the installation or received from other installations; (6) a change of monitoring methodology (calculation-based, measurement-based, other); (7) changes that the verifier identified during the strategic analysis or risk analysis as requiring significantly different verification approaches than those applied during the previous verification, such as the addition of new fuels or materials, or the addition of new measuring instruments. 2. The verifier may waive the obligation to carry out a physical site visit of the installation where electricity is produced, provided that all of the following conditions are fulfilled: (a) electricity is the only good covered by Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2023/956 produced by the installation; (b) the installation does not use any materials, fuels, or production processes with the potential to emit greenhouse gases during normal operation. The following installations shall not be regarded as compliant with this criterion: (1) installations using biomass as defined in Section 1, point 9, of Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547; (2) installations carrying out carbon capture, including for the purpose of geological storage or for use of the GHG in the production of fuels or other materials; (3) installations transferring greenhouse gases to other installations, pipelines or CO 2 transport infrastructures as defined in Article 3(29) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 7 ) . (c) a verifier has carried out at least one physical site visit in the last five reporting periods immediately preceding the current reporting period; (d) the conditions laid out in paragraph 1, points (c) to (f) are fulfilled.