Feb. 06--BEIJING -- The Chinese government on Monday ordered its airlines not to pay a carbon tax imposed by the European Union, saying it breached international civil aviation rules.
Under the EU system, introduced at the start of this year, airlines have to equip themselves with carbon permits to cover their carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions. But to ease the cost of adjustment, 85 per cent of the allowances are being provided for free.
Chinese airlines must not pay the Brussels carbon tax and were also banned from raising prices or adding fees without government permission, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said.
The EU charges for carbon emissions of flights using EU airports was "contrary to relevant principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the international civil aviation regulations," the CAAC said.
"China objects to the EU's decision to impose the scheme on non-EU airlines," it said, adding that the government would "consider adopting necessary measures to protect the interests of Chinese individuals and companies."
It said China wanted to negotiate a solution to the dispute over the charges, which the EU introduced from January 1. An EU-China summit in Beijing on February 14 was expected to discuss the issue, officials in Brussels said.
Markus Ederer, the EU ambassador to China, said the Chinese move may have resulted from a "misunderstanding" of how the carbon tax works.
The EU scheme would mean that the cost per passenger on a Chinese airline of the carbon tax would only be 17.5 yuan (2.8 dollars), Ederer said.
"I leave it to everyone to decide if this is too much to save the world's climate," he said.
Isaac Valero, spokesman for EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, said the bloc wanted to check whether the CAAC had issued "an order" or just "a recommendation," and noted that Chinese airlines had already started applying for free EU emission permits.
"Implementation is there and compliance is happening despite what is being reported in the press," he told reporters in Brussels.
EU rules also foresee an exemption for third countries which can prove to have taken "equivalent measures" to reduce airline emissions. But attempts to engage China on that option have not had success, officials in Brussels said.
Ederer said he did not expect any immediate escalation of the dispute since airlines were not required to submit their first annual accounts of carbon emissions on flights using EU airports until April next year.
"I believe we have time to discuss this." he said. "We want an international solution for this."
If China decided to mount a legal challenge to the carbon tax, the EU would expect it to be settled in European courts, Ederer said.
But referring to a ruling in December which struck out a US appeal, the ambassador said, "This carbon tax was tested in the European Court of Justice (and found) to be legal under international law."
Copyright 2012 - dpa, Berlin
