Directive 2008/101/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council2 amended Directive 2003/87/EC to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Union.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 748/20093 establishes a list of aircraft operators which performed an aviation activity listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC on or after 1 January 2006.

That list aims to reduce the administrative burden on aircraft operators by providing information on which Member State will be regulating a particular aircraft operator.

The inclusion of an aircraft operator in the Union's emissions trading scheme is dependent upon the performance of an aviation activity listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC and is not dependent on the inclusion in the list of aircraft operators established by the Commission on the basis of Article 18a(3) of that Directive.

As in previous years, changes to the list of the aircraft operators are based on information received from Eurocontrol.

An urgent entry into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union is foreseen for this regulation in order to meet the publication deadline of before 1 February as set in Article 18a(3)(b) of the Directive 2003/87/EC.

Regulation (EC) No 748/2009 should therefore be amended accordingly,