Maritime Transport (Amendment) Regulations, 2025

L.N. 143 of 2025

CLIMATE ACTION ACT

(CAP. 643)

European Union Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System For

Maritime Transport (Amendment) Regulations, 2025

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 27(1) of the

Climate Action Act, the Minister responsible for climate action policy,

in consultation with the Climate Action Authority, has made the

following regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the European Union

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System for Maritime Transport

(Amendment) Regulations, 2025 and these regulations shall be read

and construed as one with the European Union Greenhouse Gas

Emissions Trading System for Maritime Transport Regulations,

hereinafter referred to as the "principal regulations".

(2) These regulations further transpose Directive 2003/87/EC

of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003

establishing a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading

within the Union and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC, as

amended by Directive (EU) 2023/959 of the European Parliament and

of the Council of 10 May 2023 amending Directive 2003/87/EC

establishing a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading

within the Union and by Decision (EU) 2015/1814 concerning the

establishment and operation of a market stability reserve for the Union

greenhouse gas emission trading system, to the extent that it relates to

maritime transport.

Sub-regulation (1) of regulation 3 of the principal

regulations shall be substituted by the following new sub-regulation

"3.

These regulations shall apply to

(a) shipping companies performing activities listed

in Schedule 1 resulting in emissions of greenhouse gases

specified in respect of those activities and for whom Malta

is designated as the administering authority, by virtue of

(i)

being registered in Malta; or

(ii)

in the case of shipping companies that are

not registered in a Member State, for whom Malta is

the Member State with the greatest estimated number

of port calls from voyages performed by those

shipping companies in the last four (4) monitoring

years; or

(iii) in the case of shipping companies that are

not registered in a Member State and that did not

carry out any voyage falling within the scope of

Directive 2003/87/EC in the preceding four (4)

monitoring years, to which Malta is the Member State

where ships of those shipping companies have arrived

or started their first voyage falling within the scope of

Directive 2003/87/EC

Provided that Malta shall remain the administering

authority in respect of a shipping company, regardless of

subsequent changes in the shipping company’s registration or

activities, until those changes are reflected in an updated list

adopted by the Commission pursuant to Article 3gf of Directive

2003/87/EC

(b) any other relevant body corporate on which these

regulations impose any obligation.".

Sub-regulation (9) of regulation 12 of the principal Amends

regulations shall be substituted by the following new sub-regulation: regulation

the principal

regulations.

"(9) Any shipping company which does not surrender

sufficient allowances by the 30th September of each year as

required by sub-regulation (1) to cover its emissions during the

preceding year shall be liable to the imposition of an

administrative penalty of one hundred euro (€100) for each tonne

of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted, for which the shipping

company has not surrendered allowances. From 1 st January

2025, where, for the year in respect of which a shipping

company does not surrender sufficient allowances to cover

emissions during that year in accordance with sub-regulation (1),

the annual average European Harmonised Index of Consumer

Prices published indicates a percentage increase as compared to

the latest European Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices

published for the previous year, the administrative penalty shall

be increased by the same percentage. The administrative penalty

as revised pursuant to this sub-regulation shall apply to

subsequent years unless further increased in accordance with the

European Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices. For the

purposes of this sub-regulation, each allowance not surrendered

by the shipping company for a tonne of carbon dioxide

equivalent emitted, shall be considered as a separate breach.".

€0.27