Eligibility Requirements

Paragraph 21 of the JI guidelines specifies "that a Party included in Annex I with a commitment inscribed in Annex B is eligible to transfer and/or acquire ERUs issued in accordance with the relevant provisions, if it is in compliance with the following eligibility requirements:

(a) It is a Party to the Kyoto Protocol

(b) Its assigned amount pursuant to Article 3, paragraphs 7 and 8, has been calculated and recorded in accordance with decision 13/CMP.1

(c) It has in place a national system for the estimation of anthropogenic emissions by sources and anthropogenic removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, in accordance with Article 5, paragraph 1, and the requirements in the guidelines decided thereunder

(d) It has in place a national registry in accordance with Article 7, paragraph 4, and the requirements in the guidelines decided thereunder

(e) It has submitted annually the most recent required inventory, in accordance with Article 5, paragraph 2, and Article 7, paragraph 1, and the requirements in the guidelines decided thereunder, including the national inventory report and the common reporting format. For the first commitment period, the quality assessment needed for the purpose of determining eligibility to use the mechanisms shall be limited to the parts of the inventory pertaining to emissions of greenhouse gases from sources/sector categories from Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol and the submission of the annual inventory on sinks

(f) It submits the supplementary information on assigned amount in accordance with Article 7, paragraph 1, and the requirements in the guidelines decided thereunder and makes any additions to, and subtractions from, assigned amount pursuant to Article 3, paragraphs 7 and 8, including for the activities under Article 3, paragraphs 3 and 4, in accordance with Article 7, paragraph 4, and the requirements in the guidelines decided thereunder."

If a host Party is considered to fulfil all the eligibility requirements a "simplified" JI procedure ("Track 1") may be applied, i.e. the "host Party may verify reductions in anthropogenic emissions by sources or enhancements of anthropogenic removals by sinks from an Article 6 project as being additional to any that would otherwise occur, in accordance with Article 6, paragraph 1 (b). Upon such verification, the host Party may issue the appropriate quantity of ERUs in accordance with the relevant provisions of decision 13/CMP.1" (paragraph 23 of the JI guidelines).

"Where a host Party does not meet the eligibility requirements ... , the verification of reductions in anthropogenic emissions by sources or enhancements of anthropogenic removals by sinks from an Article 6 project as being additional to any that would otherwise occur, in accordance with Article 6, paragraph 1 (b), shall occur through the verification procedure under the Article 6 Supervisory Committee ... . The host Party may, however, only issue and transfer ERUs upon meeting the requirements in paragraphs 21 (a), (b) and (d) ... " (paragraph 24 of the JI guidelines). The verification procedure under the JI Supervisory Committee is also referred to as "Track 2" procedure.

Hence, where a host Party does not meet all of the eligibility requirements, "Track 2" has to be applied. Otherwise it has the choice between "Track 1" and "Track 2", i.e. it "may at any time elect to use the verification procedure under the Article 6 Supervisory Committee" (paragraph 25 of the JI guidelines).

"Any provisions relating to the commitment period reserve or other limitations to transfers under Article 17 shall not apply to transfers by a Party of ERUs issued into its national registry that were verified in accordance with the verification procedure under the Article 6 Supervisory Committee" (paragraph 41 of the JI guidelines).

According to paragraph 27 of the JI guidelines the "secretariat shall maintain a publicly accessible list of Parties that meet the eligibility requirements and that have been suspended in accordance with relevant provisions contained in decision 24/CP.7". In accordance with this provision the eligibility status of Parties is regularly updated.

(Unless otherwise indicated, the term "JI guidelines" refers to the annex of decision 9/CMP.1. In this annex the term "Article" refers to an Article of the Kyoto Protocol, unless otherwise specified.)