EPU, Alm.del - 2009-10 - Bilag 296: Redegørelse for dokumenter nævnt i samråd U-X den 27. maj 2010, fra klima- og energiministeren

Fra:[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]Sendt:21. maj 2010 16:50Til:Søren HouenCc:[email protected]; [email protected]Emne:RE: Person holding account opening requirements in your registryDear Soren,Please find attached the draft minutes of the meeting of 17 June 2009 where towards the end the VAT fraud issue isbriefly mentioned. As it is a draft it should not be made public.I also checked the files concerning the meeting of 27/01/2009 but I did not find anything concerning the VAT-fraudissue.I hope that helps.Best regards,Daniel

Dear Soren,yes, I can confirm that the presentations held by a representative of Interpol(working at the Belgian Police), and a Royal Prosecutor were focused oncriminal activities in the area of projects, i.e. falsifying reduction amounts,etc. I do not recall having discussed the issue of abusing the regsitries systemin order to commit VAT-fraud.I have lost access to the folders of the ETS unit, but my colleague, Mr. Kramermay be able to look up if we have any presentations in store from thesemeetings.regardsIstvan

Dear Istvan,Yesterday, we talked by telephone about the contents of agenda item 2 “Fraud in the CITL – the issue” at theRegistry Administrator’s Meeting held on 27 January 2009.As I understood you, the agenda item was covered by the Belgian Police and concerned the general possibility offraud in the CDM-system. The specific issue of VAT fraud from account holders in the European Registries wasbrought up for the first time at the meeting held on 17 June 2009. Can you confirm this understanding? It isimportant that we can communicate accurate information about the contents of the agenda item.Kind regards,Søren HouenHead of Section, LL.M.Emission Trading RegistryDirect tel.: +45 3392 6689E-mail: [email protected]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Ministry of Climate and EnergyDanish Energy AgencyAmaliegade 44, 1256 Copenhagen K, DenmarkTel: +4533926700, e-mail: [email protected], website: www.ens.dk-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Susanne,I have checked the documents that are still extant from the RegistryAdministrators' meetings in early 2009.The January and the March meeting were not minuted. (which iscommonplace for such informal technical meetings) I found the agendas, andthese do not include the issue of account opening requirements. Iassume that it was discussed under any other business. I cannot recall nowthe context in which the issue was discussed.I can however confirm (on the basis of the draft minutes) that on the meeingof 17 June 2010, the issue was raised by a Member State.I do not mind making the agendas for the January and the Marchmeeting public.I would however rather not make the draft minutes document public, since itwas not completed.regardsIstvan

As you may know, at a RegAdmin meeting at the beginning of thisyear, we discussed the issue of revising person holding accountrequirements in the RegReg in order to prevent fraud and criminalactivities.We have been asked by the Ministry to explain when the discussions took place, what was discussed and to provideany documentation regarding this discussion.We have checked the agendas from the registry administer meetings on 28/1 and 8/3 2009, and cannot see that itwas discussed on any of these meetings and we have no knowledge of such discussions at these meetings.The first time any such discussion took place, as far as we can remember, was at the meeting on 17 June 2009wheresome member states mentioned the contact with their TAX authorities concerning VAT fraud.Can you please tell us when the discussions first took place and provide us with any documentation related to thisissue?Please also let us know if the documentation can be made public.Best Regards,Susanne PetersenRegistry AdministratorClimate Change and Energy EconomicsTel.: +45 3392 6730E-mail:[email protected]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Ministry for Climate and EnergyDanish Energy AgencyAmaliegade 44, DK-1256 Copenhagen KTel: +45 33926700, e-mail:[email protected],webpage:www.ens.dk-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fra:[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]Sendt:17. juli 2009 08:59Til:[email protected]Cc:Hanne Marie Myrhøj; [email protected]; co2registerEmne:SV: Person holding account opening requirements in your registryDear Istvan,As of today the procedures for opening accounts in the Danish Registry has changed, and we now requiredocumentation for the identity of the Account holder, the PAR and the SAR. It has been implemented in the accountrequest procedure as you can see below.If this for some reason does not correspond with the demands, please let me know.Further more I will be gratfull, if you can provide me with a list of what other requirements, the other registries demand,just for inspiration, as we might include other requirements.Kind regards,Susanne Petersen

Susanne PetersenCand. phil.Klima og energiøkonomiDirekte tlf.: 3392 6730 / Mobil tlf.: 2331 4036E-post:[email protected]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Klima- og EnergiministerietEnergistyrelsenAmaliegade 44, 1256 København KTlf: 33926700, e-post:[email protected],hjemmeside:www.ens.dk-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Susanne,and where is the requirement to give proof of the identity of the accountholder, the PAR and the SAR? This is required in the Annex of the RegReg.According to the RegReg, they should all send you a copy of a passpoort orsomething similar. If you are not requesting this, it is not a surprise thateveryone opens accounts in the DK registry.We have now reviewed a dozen of PHA opening procedures, and the Danish isby far the simplest (and apparently not even fulfilling the minimal conditionsof the Regulation.)So I suggest that you immediately start asking for photocopies of ID cards andpassports and retroactively request this from all operators.Since this is not in line with the Regulation, and considering that it might takesome time for you to review your procedures, I would be ready to suspend allaccount opening in the DK registry until you have correct procedures. If youcan however set up the correct procedure within a matter of days, this isprobably not necessary.regardsIstvan

From:Susanne Petersen [mailto:[email protected]]Sent:Wednesday, July 08, 2009 12:24 PMTo:BART Istvan Laszlo (ENV)Cc:Hanne Marie MyrhøjSubject:SV: Person holding account opening requirements in your registryDear Istvan,Please find below the information currently required to open a PHA. Besides this the account holder has to pay the feeof app. 60 EUR per year and the same for opening the account (invoiced after the opening). If the fee is not paid weclose the account.We have however requested to our developper to make a change of this information to be implemented in oursoftware ASAP. The change includes company name (if company), VAT number and information on where to sendthe invoice. The need for VAT number is agreed with the Danish TAX authority as the only extra information needed inorder to check VAT/TAX fraud.We have agreed with the Danish TAX authorities that we will - when this change is implemented - check the VATnumber in the international VAT-database before opening the account.Due to Danish legislation the TAX authority have full access to all information in the DK registry and right now we arechecking whether we can/need to give the same access to the police.I hope this is the information you requested.Regards,Susanne

Dear Susanne,As you may know, at a RegAdmin meeting at the beginning of thisyear, we discussed the issue of revising person holding accountrequirements in the RegReg in order to prevent fraud and criminalactivities.Back then, we agreed that I will collect the various PHA openingrequirements in the Member States and if appropriate, makeproposals to the Member States in the upcoming amendment of theRegReg.In the light of the foregoing, could I ask you to send me thedocumentation and other requirements that need to be fulfilledbefore someone can open PHA in your registry.I would like to ask you to send this by Wednesday, 8 July, close ofbusiness.(I would prefer it in English, if available)

Mr. BART, István LászlóEuropean Commission, DG EnvironmentUnit C2: Market based instruments including Greenhouse Gas Emissions TradingTelephone: +32-229-88276BU-5 02/29B-1049 Bruxellese-mail:[email protected]The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may not in any circumstances be regarded asstating an official position of the European Commission