The full scope includes all flights that take off or land in the European Economic Area (EEA, i.e. the EU member states as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein). Due to the linking agreement with Switzerland (since 01/01/ 2020) and the trade agreement with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (hereinafter UK) (since 01/01/2021), flights from Switzerland and the UK to the EEA are not included in the basic scope, as they are subject to the Swiss Emissions Trading Scheme and the UK Emissions Trading Scheme respectively (see also the section on the original full scope below).
The full scope must be used to categorise an aircraft operator as a small emitter. The thresholds of 25,000 tonnes of CO2 in annual emissions or 243 flights per period for three consecutive four-month periods under Article 55 of the Monitoring -Regulation (use of an estimation tool) or the threshold of 25,000 tonnes of CO2 in annual emissions under Article 28a(4) of the Emissions Trading Directive (exemption from the verification requirement when using Eurocontrol data) relate to this scope.

The extended scope covers all flights that take off or land in the EEA. It should be noted that this also includes flights from Switzerland or the UK to the EEA, even though they are subject to the Swiss Emissions Trading Scheme or the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. This is intended to prevent aircraft operators from falling below the thresholds for the emissions trading obligation due to the corresponding reduction in the basic scope of application that the interaction of the three emissions trading systems entails.

The extended scope must be used to assess the emissions trading obligation of an aircraft operator. The thresholds of 10,000 tonnes of CO2 for annual emissions or 243 flights in the three consecutive four-month periods (January to April, May to August and September to December) for commercial aircraft operators specified in Annex I of the Emissions Trading Directive refer to the extended scope. The same reference also applies to the threshold of 1,000 tonnes of CO2 for the annual emissions of non-commercial aircraft operators.

The reduced scope initially covers all flights that take off and land in the EEA. However, there are special features for flights that affect so-called "outermost regions". In this regard, reference is also made to answer LV number 005.

Due to the agreements with Switzerland and the UK, flights from the EEA to Switzerland and the UK are also subject to the reduced scope of application, even though both countries are not part of the EEA.

The reporting and submission obligations currently relate to the reduced scope. The reduced scope also applies to the threshold of 3,000 tonnes of CO2 for annual emissions in accordance with Article 28a(4) of the Emissions Trading Directive (exemption from the verification requirement).

Especially when reviewing older publications it should be considered that the original full scope spanning 2010 to 2019 was “bigger” than the current full scope.

The full scope includes all flights departing from or arriving at the European Economic Area (EEA, covers all EU member states as well as Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein). Until the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the EU, flights between the UK and third countries had also been included (original full scope). Due to Brexit, these flights are not included anymore in the current full scope.

Furthermore, the original full scope also included flights from Switzerland into the EEA.

FAQ on the reduced scope of apllication

• LV 005