Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024
(a) The approval
requirements specified in this subarticle apply to all Offset Project
Registries that will operate to provide registry services under this
article.
(b) The Executive Officer
may approve Offset Project Registries that meet and maintain the requirements
specified in this section.
(1) Offset Project
Registry Approval Application. To apply for approval as an Offset Project
Registry, the applicant shall submit the following information to the Executive
Officer:
(A) Name of applicant;
(B) Name of president or chief executive
officer;
(C) List of all board
members, if applicable;
(D)
Addresses of offices located in the United States;
(E) Documentation that the applicant carries
at least five million U.S. dollars of professional liability insurance;
and
(F) List of any judicial
proceedings and administrative actions filed against the applicant within the
previous five years, with a detailed explanation as to the nature of the
proceedings.
(2) The
applicant must submit, in writing, the procedures to screen and address
internal conflicts of interest. The applicant must provide the following
information to the Executive Officer:
(A) A
staff, management, and board member conflict of interest policy where there are
clear criteria for what constitutes a conflict of interest. The policy must:
1. Identify specific activities and limits on
monetary and non-monetary gifts staff, management, or board members must not
conduct or accept to meet the Offset Project Registry's internal policies of
conflict of interest policy, or alternatively provide a comprehensive policy on
the applicant's requirements for the reporting of any and all conflicts based
on internal policies that guard against conflict of interest; and
2. Include a requirement for annual
disclosure by each staff, management, or board member of any items or instances
that are covered by the applicant's conflict of interest policy on an ongoing
basis or for the previous calendar year.
3. The applicant must have appropriate
conflict of interest and confidentiality requirements in place for any of its
contractors;
(B) List of
all service types provided by the applicant;
(C) The industrial sectors the applicant
serves;
(D) Locations where
services are provided; and
(E) A
detailed organizational chart that includes the applicant and any parent,
subsidiary, and affiliate companies.
(F) If the applicant under section
95986 is going to designate a
subdivision of its organization to provide registry services, then the
prohibition in section
95986(c)(1) on
serving as an offset project consultant shall apply at the subdivision level
and the applicant must provide the following general information for its self:
1. General types of services; and
2. General locations where services are
provided.
(3)
The applicant has the following capabilities for registration and tracking of
registry offset credits issued under this article:
(A) A comprehensive registration requirement
for all registry participants;
(B)
Tracking ownership and transactions of all registry offset credits it issues at
all times; and
(C) Possesses a
permanent repository of ownership information on all transactions involving all
registry offset credits it issues under this article from the time they are
issued to the time they are retired or cancelled.
(c) The applicant's primary business must be
operating an Offset Project Registry for voluntary or regulatory purposes and
meet the following business requirements:
(1)
The applicant may not act as an Offset Project Operator, Authorized Project
Designee, or offset project consultant for offset projects registered or listed
on its own Offset Project Registry and developed using a Compliance Offset
Protocol once approved as an Offset Project Registry. The applicant must
annually disclose to ARB any non-offset project related consulting services it
provides to an Offset Project Operator or Authorized Project Designee who lists
a project using a Compliance Offset Project with the applicant as part of the
information included in the annual report required in section
95987(j);
(2) The applicant may not act as a
verification body or provide offset verification services pursuant to sections
95977.1 and
95977.2 once approved as an Offset
Project Registry;
(3) If the
applicant designates a subdivision of its organization to provide registry
services, the applicant may not be an Offset Project Operator or Authorized
Project Designee for offset projects listed at the subdivision's registry, act
as a verification body, or be a covered entity or opt-in covered
entity;
(4) The applicant must
demonstrate experience in the continuous operation of a registry serving an
Environmentally-focused Market for a minimum of two years in a regulatory
and/or voluntary market. For the purposes of this section, an
"Environmentally-focused Market" means a market that includes the trading of
carbon-emissions based commodities. In the context of Air Quality Management
Districts or Air Pollution Control Districts, "Environmentally-focused Market"
includes a market for air emission reduction credits; and
(5) The applicant's primary incorporation or
other business formation and primary place of business, or the primary place of
business of the designated subdivision, if the applicant designates a
subdivision to provide registry services pursuant to this section, must be in
the United States of America.
(d) The Offset Project Registry must continue
to maintain the professional liability insurance required in section
95986(b) while it
provides registry services to Offset Project Operators or Authorized Project
Designees who are implementing offset projects using Compliance Offset
Protocols.
(e) If any information
submitted pursuant to sections
95986(b) through
(d) changes after the approval of an Offset
Project Registry, the Offset Project Registry must notify the Executive Officer
within 30 calendar days and provide updated information consistent with that
required in sections
95986(b) through
(d).
(f) The Offset Project Registry must attest,
in writing, to ARB as follows:
(1) "As the
authorized representative for this Offset Project Registry, I understand that
the Offset Project Registry is voluntarily participating in the California
Cap-and-Trade Program under title 17, article 5, and the Offset Project
Registry is now subject to all regulatory requirements and enforcement
mechanisms of this program.";
(2)
"All information generated and submitted to ARB by the Offset Project Registry
related to an offset project that uses a Compliance Offset Protocol will be
true, accurate, and complete.";
(3)
"All information provided to ARB as part of an ARB audit of the Offset Project
Registry will be true, accurate, and complete.";
(4) "All registry services provided will be
in accordance with the requirements of section
95987.";
(5) "The Offset Project Registry is committed
to participating in all ARB training related to ARB's compliance offset program
or Compliance Offset Protocols."; and
(6) The authorized representative of the
Offset Project Registry must attest in writing, to ARB: "I certify under
penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California I have authority
to represent the Offset Project Registry and all information provided as part
of this application is true, accurate, and complete.".
(g) At least two of the management staff at
the Offset Project Registry must take ARB provided training on ARB's compliance
offset program and pass an examination upon completion of training.
(h) The Offset Project Registry must have
staff members who have collectively completed ARB training and passed an
examination upon completion of training in all Compliance Offset
Protocols.
(i) The Offset Project
Registry must have at least two years of demonstrated experience in, and
requirements for, direct staff oversight and review of offset projects, project
listing, offset verification, and registry offset credit issuance.
(j) ARB Approval.
(1) Within 60 calendar days of receiving an
application for approval as an Offset Project Registry and completion by all
management staff of the training required in section
95986(g), the
Executive Officer will inform the applicant in writing either that the
application is complete or that additional specific information is required to
make the application complete.
(2)
The applicant may be allowed to submit additional supporting documentation
before a decision is made by the Executive Officer.
(3) Within 60 calendar days following
completion of the application process, the Executive Officer shall approve an
Offset Project Registry if evidence of qualification submitted by the applicant
has been found to meet the requirements of section
95986 and issue an Executive Order
to that effect.
(4) The Executive
Officer and the applicant may mutually agree, in writing, to longer time
periods than those specified in subsections
95986(j)(1) and
95986(j)(3).
(5) The Executive Officer approval for an
Offset Project Registry is valid for a period of 10 years, whereupon the
applicant may re-apply. At the time of re-application, the Offset Project
Registry must:
(A) Demonstrate it consistently
met all of the requirements in section
95986;
(B) Pass a performance review, which, at a
minimum shows the Offset Project Registry consistently:
1. Demonstrates knowledge of the ARB
compliance offset program and Compliance Offset Protocols;
2. Meets all regulatory deadlines;
and
3. Provides registry services
in accordance with the requirements of this article; and
(C) Not have been subject to enforcement
action under this article.
(k) Modification, Suspension, and Revocation
of an Executive Order Approving an Offset Project Registry. The Executive
Officer may review, and, for good cause, modify, suspend, or revoke an
Executive Order providing approval to an Offset Project Registry.
(1) During revocation proceedings, the Offset
Project Registry may not continue to provide registry services for
ARB.
(2) Within five working days
of suspension or revocation of approval, an Offset Project Registry must notify
all Offset Project Operators or Authorized Project Designees for whom it is
providing registry services, or has provided registry services within the past
12 months, of its suspension or revocation of approval.
(3) An Offset Project Operator or Authorized
Project Designee who has been notified by an Offset Project Registry of a
suspended or revoked approval must re-submit its offset project information
with a new Offset Project Registry or ARB. An offset project listed at ARB or a
new Offset Project Registry will continue to operate under its originally
approved crediting period, provided that ARB may extend the crediting period or
the relevant deadline in section
95977(d) for one
year if ARB determines that such extension is necessary to provide time for
re-submission of information to the new Offset Project Registry or
ARB.
(m) If the applicant
under section
95986 is going to designate a
subdivision of its organization to provide registry services, all the
requirements of section
95986 may be applied at the
designated subdivision level.
(n)
An approved Offset Project Registry must make itself and its personnel
available for an ARB audit.
1. New
section filed 12-13-2011; operative 1-1-2012 pursuant to Government Code
section
11343.4
(Register 2011, No. 50).
2. Change without regulatory effect
amending subsection (g)(4) filed 2-15-2012 pursuant to section
100, title 1, California Code of
Regulations (Register 2012, No. 7).
3. Amendment filed 6-26-2014;
operative 7-1-2014 pursuant to Government Code section
11343.4(b)(3)
(Register 2014, No. 26).
Note: Authority cited: Sections
38510,
38560,
38562,
38570,
38571,
38580,
39600
and
39601,
Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections
38530,
38560.5,
38564,
38565,
38570
and
39600,
Health and Safety Code.
