Weaknesses of the EU's emission trading scheme

9.2.2011

Question for written answer E-001368/2011
to the Commission
Rule 117
Jan Březina (PPE)

On 19 January the Commission suspended trading in allowances after up to 2 million permits, worth around EUR 30 million, were stolen by computer hackers from the national registries of several European countries. In this context, some questions emerge:

What measures is the Commission going to undertake in order to prevent the theft of credits by hackers from happening again?

What are the reasons for the slowness with which the EU has reacted, following a series of fraud attacks on the ETS market in the past few years?

How does the Commission view the idea of handing over control of the EU emission trading scheme to a new independent financial body?

Does the Commission think that the losses caused by thefts of credits should be covered, and if so, how? Is the solution to set up an insurance fund aimed at covering such losses?

OJ C 286 E, 30/09/2011