(fra kommisjonsbeslutningen)

(1) Directive (EU) 2018/2001 sets out a framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources in the Union. It also sets a binding Union target for the overall share of energy from renewable sources in the Union’s gross final consumption in 2030, as well as sectoral targets, among which a sectoral target for transport. 

(2) Sustainably produced biofuels and biogases have a key role to play in the effort to decarbonise the transport sector. Article 27 (2), point (c) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 incentivises the use of such fuels produced from the feedstock listed in its Annex IX. 

(3) In addition, Article 29 (2) – (7) and (10) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 includes sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria, which have to be fulfilled for biofuels to count towards the overall and sectoral targets. Pursuant to Article 30 (1) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, compliance with the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria is to be shown by means of mandatory independent and transparent audits, for example by using certificates issued by certification bodies performing certification audits on behalf of voluntary schemes or national schemes regarding the proof of sustainability issued by economic operators. Article 30 (4) and (5) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 allows the Commission to recognise voluntary schemes as compliant with the rules of that Directive. The Commission has already recognised several voluntary schemes, covering a range of feedstocks, fuels and sectors. 

(4) When a voluntary scheme recognised by the Commission provides a certificate demonstrating that a batch of biofuel complies with the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria established in Article 29 (2) – (7) and (10) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, pursuant to Article 30 (9) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 Member States are not to require economic operators to provide further evidence of compliance with those criteria. However, Article 30 (10) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 allows Member States to request that the Commission examines whether the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria have been met in a specific case. In addition, pursuant to Article 30 (10), the Commission may decide that Member States who have submitted such a request are able to require suppliers of the source of renewable fuels and recycled carbon fuels to provide further evidence of compliance with those sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria and those greenhouse gas emissions savings thresholds. 

(5) On 28 March 2023, the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, supported by the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (‘BLE’) (together, ‘the competent authorities of Germany’), notified the Commission about fraud allegations related to the certification and labelling of biofuel imports from the People’s Republic of China (‘the German notification’). They further informed the Commission that those allegations concerned fatty acid methyl ester (‘FAME’) biodiesel produced from non-classified material that was allegedly fraudulently certified as produced from the relevant materials listed in Annex IX to Directive (EU) 2018/2001. Pursuant to Article 27(2), point (c), of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, the share of biofuels and biogas produced from the feedstock listed in Annex IX to that Directive is to be considered to be twice its energy content for the calculation of the minimum shares referred to in Article 25(1), first subparagraph, point (a)(i) and point (b) of that Directive. The German notification referred to FAME biodiesel certified by certification bodies performing activities under the voluntary scheme International Sustainability & Carbon Certification – ISCC EU (‘ISCC’), which was recognised by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/602. The competent authorities of Germany indicated ‘China Quality Certification Centre’ (CQC), ‘TÜV Nord’, ‘RINA Services S.p.A.’ and ‘SCS Global Services’ as the relevant certification bodies in their notification. In their notification, the competent authorities of Germany requested that the Commission initiates an examination pursuant to Article 30 (10) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001. On 17 May 2023, the competent authorities of Germany provided additional information on further cases of alleged fraud in connection with imports of advanced biofuels from the People’s Republic of China as an extension of the application. 

(6) Since March 2023, the Commission, in close cooperation with the competent authorities in Germany, has collected information from a range of stakeholders, among which representatives from the biofuel industry and Member State representatives, in particular in the context of the Committee on the Sustainability of Biofuels, Bioliquids, and Biomass Fuels. The Commission also had many exchanges with the concerned voluntary scheme, ISCC. 

(7) The Commission requested and subsequently received documentation pertinent to this case from the stakeholders involved, in particular from ISCC. Such documentation comprised copies of audit reports and integrity audit reports and other relevant data related to the allegations. The integrity audit reports included information on the way the audits were conducted by the certification bodies working under ISCC in the People’s Republic of China. 

(8) As the fraud allegations were related to certification activities performed under the voluntary scheme ISCC, the Commission could only obtain the information pertinent to the examination period as from the date of entry into force of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/602, that is, 13 April 2022. The Commission took into account the findings available until 31 December 2024. Therefore, the examination period spanned from 12 April 2022 to 31 December 2024. 

(9) The Commission is not in a position to conclude with certainty that, for the biofuels under examination, the rules related to the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria have been breached and that fraudulent activities have occurred. However, the Commission can also not conclude that those criteria have been met. The information received revealed serious irregularities in the way ISCC and certification bodies performed their activities. In those individual cases, where irregularities have been identified, the respective certificates of economic operators have been withdrawn by ISCC, but the proofs of sustainability for the related batch were not declared invalid. In view of the existence of those irregularities, the Commission considers that, for the FAME biodiesel that the Commission was requested to examine, which was imported during the examination period, Germany should be enabled, if considered useful, to require suppliers to provide further evidence of compliance with the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria. However, Germany should not be obliged to require further evidence. Given the time necessary to conduct the assessment, to discover the findings and to come to conclusions and the time passed since the submission of the German application, the quantities in question are likely to have been accounted for and/or marketed and are therefore no longer available and no longer verifiable. 

(10) If, pursuant to this Decision, the competent authorities of Germany decide to require suppliers to provide further evidence of compliance with the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria, the concerned certificates should remain valid until the competent authorities of Germany decide otherwise, in particular if the required information is not provided or insufficient. 

(11) In parallel to the examination pursuant to Article 30 (10) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and with the aim to respond to the concerns related to allegedly fraudulent biodiesel imports from the People’s Republic of China, the Commission initiated two other investigations. On 17 August 2023, the Commission initiated an investigation concerning the possible circumvention of the countervailing measures imposed by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2092 by imports of biodiesel consigned from the People’s Republic of China and the United Kingdom, whether declared as originating in the People’s Republic of China and the United Kingdom or not, and it made such imports subject to registration. This investigation was terminated on 7 May 20245 . In addition, on 20 December 2023, the Commission initiated an antidumping investigation with regard to imports of biodiesel originating in the People’s Republic of China pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council. That investigation led to the imposing of a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of biodiesel originating in the People's Republic of China via Commission Implementing Decision (EU) (EU) 2025/261. 

(12) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on the Sustainability of Biofuels, Bioliquids and Biomass fuels,