Regulation respecting a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emission allowances.

The purpose of this Regulation is to set rules for the operation of the cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emission allowances established pursuant to section 46.5 of the Environment Quality Act (chapter Q-2). For that purpose, it determines which emitters are required to cover their emissions, the terms and conditions for registering for the system, the emission allowances that can be validly used, the terms and conditions for the issue, use and trading of emission allowances, and the information that must be provided by emitters and other persons or municipalities that may register for in the system. For the purposes of this Regulation, an emitter is any person or municipality operating an enterprise in a sector of activity listed in Appendix A and reporting for an establishment or, if applicable, for the enterprise, in accordance with the Regulation respecting mandatory reporting of certain emissions of contaminants into the atmosphere (chapter Q-2, r. 15), annual greenhouse gas emissions in a quantity equal to or greater than 25,000 metric tonnes CO2 equivalent, excluding the emissions referred to in the second paragraph of section 6.6 of that Regulation. Every person or municipality to which the provisions of this Regulation apply must keep a copy of all the information and documents that must be filed under this Regulation or relating to any transaction within the system for a minimum period of 7 years starting on the date on which they are produced. Any information or document required to be provided under this Regulation must be sent to the Minister using the forms or templates available on the website of the Minist re du D veloppement durable, de l Environnement, de la Faune et des Parcs. Only a natural person domiciled in Canada or another person or municipality having an establishment in Canada may register with the Minister as a participant in the system in order to acquire emission allowances. Every person or municipality that is already registered as an emitter or clearing house pursuant to this Regulation or as an emitter or clearing house in the cap-and-trade system for GHG emission allowances of a partner entity is considered to be registered for the system and cannot register again as a participant or clearing house with the Minister. The emission allowances recorded in the account of a participant whose registration is terminated pursuant to the second paragraph are recovered by the Minister who allocates them as follows: (1) the emission units are paid into the auction account to be sold at a later date; (2) the early reduction credits are paid into the retirement account to be extinguished; (3) the offset credits are paid into the environmental integrity account.