Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Fuels

L.N. 410 of 2017

MALTA RESOURCES AUTHORITY ACT

(CAP. 423)

Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Fuels

(Amendment) Regulations, 2017

IN exercise of the powers conferred by article 28 of the Malta

Resources Authority Act, the Minister for the Environment,

Sustainable Development and Climate Change, after consultation

with the Malta Resources Authority, has made the following

regulations

The title of these regulations is the Lifecycle Greenhouse Title.

Gas Emissions from Fuels (Amendment) Regulations, 2017 and these

regulations shall be read and construed as one with the Lifecycle

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Fuels Regulations hereinafter

referred to as "the principal regulations".

ANNEX II of Council Directive (EU) 2015/652 shall be applicable in

its entirety as the Second Schedule to these regulations.

Sub-regulation (2) of regulation 1 of the principal Amends

regulation 1 of

regulations shall be substituted by with the following

the principal

regulations.

"(2)

These regulations transpose Article 7a of Directive

98/70/EC by setting, in respect of road vehicles, non-road

mobile machinery (including inland waterway vessels when not

at sea), agricultural and forestry tractors, and recreational craft

when not at sea, a target for the reduction of life cycle

greenhouse gas emissions, and transpose Council Directive

(EU) 2015/652 by laying down rules on calculation methods

and reporting requirements.".

ANNEX IV of Council Directive (EU) 2015/652 shall be applicable

in its entirety as the Third Schedule to these regulations.

Regulation 2 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 2 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) immediately after the definition "the Act" there shall be

added the following definition

" "ASTM D287" means the American Society for Testing

and Materials Standard Test Method for API Gravity of Crude

Petroleum and Petroleum Products (Hydrometer Method);";

(b) immediately after the definition "Clean Development

Mechanism" there shall be added the following new definitions

" "conventional crude" means any refinery raw material

exhibiting an API gravity that is higher than 10 degrees when

situated in a reservoir formation at its place of origin as

measured per testing method ASTM D287, and not falling

within the definition for CN code 2714 as set out in Regulation

(EEC) No 2658/87;";

"Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87" means Council

Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and

statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff;

"fuel baseline standard" means a fuel baseline standard

based on the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions per unit of

energy from fossil fuels in 2010;";

(c) immediately after the definition "life cycle greenhouse gas

emissions" there shall be added the following new definitions

" "low indirect land-use change-risk biofuels" means

biofuels, the feedstocks of which were produced within schemes

which reduce the displacement of production for purposes other

than for making biofuels and which were produced in

accordance with the sustainability criteria for biofuels set out in

regulation 3 of the Biofuels (Sustainability Criteria)

Regulations;

"natural bitumen" means any source of refinery raw

material that

(a) has an American Petroleum Institute (API)

gravity of 10 degrees or less when situated in a reservoir

formation at the place of extraction as defined pursuant to

the testing method ASTM D287;

(b) has an annual average viscosity at reservoir

temperature greater than that calculated by the equation

Viscosity (Centipoise) = 518,98 e-0,038T , where T is the

temperature in Celsius;

(c) falls within the definition for tar sands under

combined nomenclature (CN) code 2714 as outlined in

Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87; and

(d) where the mobilisation of the source of the

raw material is achieved by mining extraction or thermally

enhanced gravity drainage where the thermal energy is

mainly derived from sources other than the feedstock

source itself;

" "oil shale" means any source of refinery raw material as

situated in a rock formation containing solid kerogen and falling

within the definition for oil shale under CN code 2714 as

outlined in Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87. Mobilisation of the

source of the raw material is achieved by mining extraction or

thermally enhanced gravity drainage;

"renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-

biological origin" means liquid or gaseous fuels other than

biofuels whose energy content comes from renewable energy

sources other than biomass, and which are used in transport;"

"starch-rich crops" means crops comprising mainly cereals

(regardless of whether only the grains are used or the whole

plant, such as in the case of green maize, is used), tubers and

root crops (such as potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, sweet

potatoes, cassava and yams), and corm crops (such as taro and

cocoyam);"; and

(d) immediately after the definition "supplier" there shall be

added the following new definition

" "upstream emissions" means all greenhouse gas

emissions occurring prior to the raw material entering a refinery

or a processing plant where the fuel, as referred to in the First

Schedule, was produced.".

ANNEX V of Directive 98/70/EC, as added by ANNEX I (2) of

Directive (EU) 2015/1513, shall be applicable in its entirety as the

Fourth Schedule to these regulations.".

€0.72

Regulation 3 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 3 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) immediately after sub-regulation (1) thereof, there shall be

added the following new paragraph

"In the case of suppliers of biofuels for use in aviation,

such suppliers may choose to become contributors to the

reduction obligation laid down in sub-regulation (3) provided

that those biofuels comply with the sustainability criteria set out

in regulation 3 of the Biofuels (Sustainability Criteria) S.L. 545.28

Regulations.";

(b) sub-regulation (2) thereof shall be substituted by the

following

"(2) Suppliers shall report to the Authority on the

greenhouse gas intensity of fuel and energy supplied by

providing, as a minimum, the following information

(a) the total volume of each type of fuel or

energy supplied, indicating where purchased and its origin;

(b) the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions per

unit of energy;

(c)

on the biofuel production pathways;

(d) volumes of biofuels derived from the

feedstocks as categorised in Part A of the Fourth Schedule;

(e) the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions per

unit of energy, including the provisional mean values of

the estimated indirect land-use change emissions from

biofuels

Provided that

(a) suppliers shall report data using the

definitions and the calculation method set out in the First

Schedule

(b) the data shall be reported annually using the

template set out in the Third Schedule;

(c)

such report shall

(i) be submitted annually by the end of March of

each year in respect of the previous calendar year;

(ii) shall be in accordance to any guidelines that

the Authority may establish or adopt;

(iii) shall be subject to verification; and

(d) for suppliers that are SMEs, the simplified

method set out in the First Schedule shall apply.";

(c) sub-regulation (3) thereof shall be substituted by the

Suppliers shall reduce as gradually as possible life

cycle greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy from fuel and

energy supplied by up to 10% by the 31st December 2020,

compared with the fuel baseline standard specified by the

Authority based on the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions per

unit of energy from fossil fuels. Such reduction shall consist of

(a)

6% by the 31st December 2020;

(b)

an indicative additional target of 2% by the

31 st December 2020, to be achieved through one or both of

the following methods

(i) the supply of energy for transport supplied

for use in any type of road vehicle, non-road mobile

machinery, agricultural or forestry tractor or

recreational craft;

(ii) the use of any technology (including carbon

capture and storage) capable of reducing life cycle

greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy from

fuel or energy supplied

Provided that such indicative additional target

may be subject to adjustments in order to assess possible

contributions for reaching a greenhouse gas reduction

target of up to 10% by 2020;

(c) an indicative additional target of 2% by the

31 st December 2020 to be achieved through the use of

credits purchased through the Clean Development

Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol under the conditions set

out in Directive 2003/87/EC, for reductions in the fuel

supply sector

Provided that additional measures may be

introduced by the Authority to allow suppliers to reduce by

2% life cycle greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy,

in comparison with a fuel baseline standard based on the

life cycle greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy

from fossil fuels, through the use of credits purchased

through the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto

Protocol under the conditions set out in Directive 2003/87/

EC.

For the purposes of this sub-regulation, suppliers

shall use the calculation method set out in the First

Schedule to determine the greenhouse gas intensity of the

fuels they supply.

For the purposes of this sub-regulation, suppliers

shall report data using the definitions and the calculation

method set out in the First Schedule. The data shall be

reported annually using the template set out in the Third

Schedule.

For the purposes of verifying compliance by

suppliers with their obligation under this sub-regulation,

suppliers shall compare their achieved reductions of life

cycle greenhouse gas emissions from fuels and from

electricity to the fuel baseline standard set out in the

Second Schedule."; and

(d) immediately after sub-regulation (5) thereof shall be added

the following new paragraph and sub-regulation

"For the purposes of this sub-regulation, a group of

suppliers choosing to be considered as a single supplier shall

meet its obligation under sub-regulation (3) within the Maltese

territory.

(6)

The Authority may provide that the maximum

contribution of biofuels produced from cereal and other starch-

rich crops, sugars and oil crops and from crops grown as main

crops primarily for energy purposes on agricultural land for the

purpose of compliance with the target referred to in sub-

regulation (3) shall not exceed the maximum contribution

established in point (d) of the second sub-paragraph of Article

3(4) of Directive 2009/28/EC.".

Immediately after regulation 3 of the principal regulations

there shall be added the following new regulation

3A. (1)

Any person who

"Offences and

penalties.

(a)

wilfully or through negligence acts

in breach of any provision of these regulations;

(b)

fails to comply with any lawful

order by an inspector, employee or officer of the

Authority in execution of their duties in terms of

these regulations;

(c)

hinders, obstructs, molests or

interferes or attempts to hinder, obstruct, molest

or interfere with any inspector, any employee or

officer of the Authority in the execution of his

duties in terms of these regulations;

(d)

makes a declaration for any of the

purposes of these regulations which is false,

misleading or incorrect in any material respect,

shall be guilty of an offence against these

regulations and shall, on conviction, be liable to

imprisonment for not more than eighteen months,

or to a fine (multa) of not more than sixty-nine

thousand and eight hundred and eighty-one euro

and twenty cents (69,881.20), or to one thousand

and three hundred and ninety-seven euro and

sixty-two cents (1,397.62) for each day during

which the offence persists, or to both such fine

and imprisonment.

(2) The liability of an offender under sub-

regulation (1) shall be without prejudice to the liability

of the offender to pay to the Authority any cost

incurred in removing the cause of the offence and to

undo anything which was done without an

authorisation.

(3) The Court, besides awarding the punishment

referred to in this regulation, may order the convicted

offenders to close their activity and, or to undo

anything which was done without an authorisation.

(4) In the prosecution of offences against these

regulations officials of the Authority shall have the

right to assist the police, and to plead the case before

the Court.

(5) Officers from the Authority may assist the

Police in the exercise of any of their powers to prevent

the commission of an offence against these regulations

and, or to secure evidence concerning any such

offence.

(6) The provisions of these regulations shall not

affect any criminal proceedings and, or any other

proceedings that may be instituted under any other

law.".

Immediately after regulation 4 of the principal regulations Adds new

there shall be added the following new Schedules

"FIRST SCHEDULE

ANNEX I of Council Directive (EU) 2015/652 shall be applicable in

its entirety as the First Schedule to these regulations.