Further to the publication of the EU ETS Phase II auction rules on 29 July 2008, DEFRA announced on 15 August that organisations can now apply to become Primary Participants in the competitive element of the UK's auctions for Phase II of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme ('EU ETS'). This will be of interest to parties wishing to be appointed as intermediaries ('Primary Participants') in the auction process, to those generally wishing to participate in the auctioning of allowances and to other investors and stakeholder groups.

Primary Participants can either bid directly for allowances or act as intermediaries for other parties, provided they hold an EU ETS registry account and meet the eligibility criteria set out in HM Treasury's Community Emissions Trading Scheme (Allocation of Allowances) Scheme 2008 (the 'Scheme').

Anyone holding an EU ETS registry account can bid for carbon allowances, through the Primary Participants, whose role includes collecting and submitting bids on behalf of other account holders.

Details of how to apply to become a Primary Participant are on Defra's website, which can be accessed by clicking here.

To read our previous law-now on the publication of the EU ETS Phase II Auction Rules, please click here.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.

The original publication date for this article was 18/08/2008.