It could be simplified that a electricity importer under the California draft regulation has a compliance obligation for every metric ton of CO2e emissions associated with electricity imported into California from a source in a jurisdiction where a GHG emissions trading system has not been approved for linkage and where the thresholds have been exceeded (with the reservation with regard to the data verification). Resource shuffling is prohibited.
So, the current state of affairs is that it is probable electricity importers will be included in the California cap-and-trade from the beginning of the first settlement period and as regards EUETS up to now the European Commission only analyses the question. The said issue seems, however, not so complicated – there are unsophisticated arguments to predict that if electricity importers don’t be included as covered entities into EUETS as from 2013, the scheme (and the relevant industries) will be exposed to serious challenge.