EU Plan to Delay Carbon Sales May Violate Law, Law Firm Says

A European Union plan to temporarily delay carbon permits sales starting next year may breach the bloc’s legislation, said Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, the German law firm.

“The emissions trading directive only grants the EU commission the right to interfere with the market in case of CO2 prices that are too high to reduce the burden on businesses,” said Stefan Altenschmidt, head of the environment, planning and regulatory practice group in Dusseldorf. “The directive does not allow the commission to work towards a price increase in case of CO2 rates that are too low,” he said today in a statement on the firm’s website.

The opinion was prepared on behalf of lobby groups including from the steel, cement, glass and paper industries, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mathew Carr in London at m.carr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rachel Graham at rgraham13@bloomberg.net