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European Union – Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)

SSM Roundel

Steamship Mutual

Published: February 19, 2024

Further to our article on this subject published on 14th December 2023 the EU published on 31st January 2024 the list of Administering Authorities in respect of Shipping Companies which can be found at the link here.

To open a Maritime Operator Holding Account (MOHA), a shipping company must apply to the relevant national administrator:

  • Within 40 working days of the publication of the above list or,
  • For shipping companies not included in that list, within 65 days of the first port call falling within the scope of the ETS Directive. For such companies, the application should be to the authority of the state of the port call in question.

The details of the administering authorities of each EU state can be found on the Union Registry section of the European Commission’s website at the link below:

Union Registry - European Commission (europa.eu)

It can be seen from the list allocating companies to administering authorities that there is considerable variance in the number of shipping companies handled by individual states. For example, there are over 600 entries in the list for Greece, and over 400 companies allocated to Spain. Since it is not known how long it may take to process an application to open a MOHA, the earlier an application is submitted the better, particularly for those states with the larger number of owners under their administration, in order that owners can then begin the process of accumulating EU Allowances.

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