The Cyprus Department of Merchant Shipping has issued a circular informing owners, managers and representatives of Cyprus flag ships calling at EU ports and owners, managers and representatives of ships calling at ports in Cyprus, irrespective of flag, of their obligations under Regulation (EU) No. 757/2015 on the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport. The regulation, which entered into force on 1 July 2015, provides for ship operators to measure carbon dioxide emissions from their ships and report them to the European Commission and their national maritime authority. The measurement and reporting procedures are subject to approval and monitoring by officially approved verifiers appointed by each member state's designated accreditation body.

The regulation applies to ships above 5,000 gross tonnes in respect of carbon dioxide emissions released during their voyages from their last port of call to a port of call within the EU and from a port of call within the EU to their next port of call, as well as within ports of call under the jurisdiction of a Member State. Only voyages for the purpose of transporting passengers or cargo for commercial purposes fall within the scope of the regulation: activities such as dredging, prospection and extraction of material from the seabed or subsoil, pipe-laying and offshore installation activities are outside its scope. Military and fishing vessels are also excluded.

Operators are required to submit a monitoring plan for each of their vessels to the appointed verifier, indicating the method chosen to monitor and report carbon dioxide emissions, no later than 31 August 2017. For ships falling under the scope of the regulation for the first time after that date, the monitoring plan must be submitted to the verifier no later than two months after the ship's first call in a port in the EU.

From 1 January 2018, based on the monitoring plan assessed and approved by the verifier, operators must monitor carbon dioxide emissions for each ship on a per-voyage and a yearly basis. By 30 April each year, beginning in 2019, operators must submit annual emissions reports to the European Commission and to their flag state authority, verified as satisfactory by the appointed verifier, and by the following 30 June ships arriving or departing from ports in the EU which have carried out voyages during the reporting period must carry on board valid documentary evidence of compliance.

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