Germany is one of the first countries in Europe that will be allowed to resume trading emission certificates. The European Commission had suspended all national and international transactions on January 19th in the wake of security incidents at some European registries. Germany was not among the countries affected. National registries would only be allowed to resume full online trading after a comprehensive check of their IT systems security standards. "We are delighted that the German Registry stood up to the European security checks without reservations. It will be available for all transactions from February 4th 2011. Emissions trading remains one of the most important instruments in national and international climate protection. All EU Member States must tighten their security standards in order to counteract criminal activity. We therefore support the European Union's efforts to raise security levels", says Jochen Flasbarth, President of the Federal Environment Agency.

As early as November 2010, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) had introduced two-factor authentication by smsTAN for its national registry at the DEHSt. To carry out security-relevant actions at the Registry, authorised representatives of account holders require a transaction number (TAN), which is sent to a pre-registered mobile phone. The procedure protects against data theft and meets the security standards requested by the European Commission as well as the UN Climate Secretariat (UNFCCC). Many banks use this method.

Keyword "Emissions Trading Registry". National emissions trading registries are an essential part of emissions trading. They contain information about who owns which emission certificates, as each certificate has a unique serial number that is transmitted during transactions. All transactions to be carried out in a national registry must be checked and confirmed by the European central registry, the Community Independent Transaction Log (CITL), as well as by the United Nations central registry (ITL). The national registry is administrated by the German Emissions Authority (DEHSt), which is part of the Federal Environment Agency. The actual trading of emission certificates, however, is independent from the registry and takes place at exchanges or directly between buyer and seller. The parties agree individually on the price and legal framework for their transactions.