Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/996 of 14 June 2022 on rules to verify sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria and low indirect land-use change-risk criteria (Text with EEA relevance)

This Regulation lays down implementing rules to ensure that it is verified in an efficient and harmonised manner that economic operators:

1. comply with the sustainability criteria set in Article 29(2) to (7) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

2. provide accurate data on greenhouse gas emission savings for the purposes of Article 25(2) and Article 29(10) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

3. comply with the criteria for certification of low ILUC-risk biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels established by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/807.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

1. ‘voluntary scheme’ means an organisation that certifies the compliance of economic operators with criteria and rules including, but not limited to, the sustainability and greenhouse gas saving criteria set out in Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/807;

2. ‘recognised voluntary scheme’ means a voluntary scheme recognised pursuant to Article 30(4) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

3. ‘recognised national scheme’ means a national scheme recognised pursuant to with Article 30(6) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

4. ‘certificate’ means a conformity statement by a certification body within the framework of a voluntary scheme, certifying that an economic operator complies with the requirements of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

5. ‘suspended certificate’ means a certificate temporarily invalidated due to non-conformities identified by the certification body or upon voluntary request of the economic operator;

6. ‘withdrawn certificate’ means a certificate that has been permanently cancelled by the certification body or the voluntary scheme;

7. ‘terminated certificate’ means a certification that has been voluntarily cancelled while it is still valid;

8. ‘expired certificate’ means a certificate that is no longer valid;

9. ‘sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving characteristics’ means the set of information describing a consignment of raw material or fuel that is required for demonstrating compliance of that consignment with the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels or the greenhouse gas emission savings requirements applicable for renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin and recycled carbon fuels;

10. ‘mix of raw material for the purpose of further processing’ means the physical mixing of raw material for the sole purpose of producing biofuels, bioliquids or biomass fuels;

11. ‘economic operator’ means a producer of raw material, a collector of waste and residues, an operator of installations processing raw material into final fuels or intermediate products, an operator of installations producing energy (electricity, heating or cooling) or any other operator, including of storage facilities or traders that are in physical possession of raw material or fuels, provided that they process information on the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving characteristics of those raw materials or fuels;

12. ‘first gathering point’ means a storage or processing facility managed directly by an economic operator or other counterpart under contractual agreement that is sourcing raw material directly from producers of agricultural biomass, forest biomass, wastes and residues or, in the case of renewable fuels of non-biological origin, the plant producing such fuels;

13. ‘certification audit’ means an initial audit before participation in a scheme, with the purpose of issuing a certificate under a voluntary scheme;

14. ‘certification body’ means an independent accredited conformity assessment body that concludes an agreement with a voluntary or national scheme recognised by the European Commission in accordance with Article 30(4)-(6) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, to provide certification services for raw materials or fuels by carrying out audits of economic operators and issuing certificates on behalf of the voluntary or national schemes using the voluntary or national scheme’s certification system;

15. ‘non-conformity’ means non-compliance of an economic operator or certification body with the rules and procedures, established by the voluntary scheme, of which they are members or under which they operate;

16. ‘surveillance audit’ means any follow up audit of certificates issued by a certification body within the framework of a voluntary scheme after certification and before a re-certification audit, which can be carried out quarterly, half-annually or annually;

17. ‘re-certification audit’ means an audit with the purpose of renewing a certificate issued by a certification body within the framework of a voluntary scheme;

18. ‘interconnected infrastructure’ means a system of infrastructures, including pipelines, LNG terminals and storage facilities, which transports gases, that primarily consist of methane and include biogas and gas from biomass, in particular biomethane, or other types of gas that can technically and safely be injected into, and transported through the natural gas pipeline system, hydrogen systems as well as pipeline networks and transmission or distribution infrastructures for liquid fuels;

19. ‘hydrogen system’ means a system of infrastructure, including hydrogen networks, hydrogen storage, and hydrogen terminals, which contains hydrogen of a high grade of purity;

20. ‘legal predecessors’ means an economic operator that has been legally replaced by a new one, but no substantive changes or only superficial ones have been made regarding its ownership, management composition, working methods or scope of activity;

21. ‘product group’ means raw materials, biofuels, bioliquids, non-gaseous biomass fuels with similar physical and chemical characteristics and similar heating values or gaseous biomass fuels, and LNG with similar chemical characteristics that all are subject to the same rules set out in Articles 7, 26 and 27 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 for determining the contribution of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels towards achieving the targets for renewable energy;

22. ‘site’ means a geographical location, logistical facilities, transmission or distribution infrastructures with precise boundaries within which products can be mixed;

23. ‘proof of sustainability’ means a declaration by an economic operator, made on the basis of a certificate issued by a certification body within the framework of a voluntary scheme certifying the compliance of a specific quantity of feedstock or fuels with the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria set out in Articles 25(2) and 29 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

24. ‘raw material’ means substances that have not yet been processed into fuels including intermediate products;

25. ‘fuels’ means fuels that are ready to be supplied for consumption, including biofuels, bioliquids, biomass fuels, renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin and recycled carbon fuels;

26. ‘financial attractiveness test’ means the calculation of the Net Present Value (NVP) of an investment, based on additionality measures in the context of low ILUC-risk biomass certification;

27. ‘non-financial barrier test’ means an assessment of the potential other barriers that are expected to prevent an economic operator from implementing additionality measures in the context of low ILUC-risk biomass certification;

28. ‘Union database’ means the database provided for in Article 28, point 2 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

29. ‘grassland’ has the meaning attributed to it in Article 1, point (1) of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1307/2014⁽¹⁾.