New Registration and Issuance Procedures
7th CDM Joint Coordination Workshop
Bonn, Germany, 12 – 13 March 2011
Module 4.1 (Project Cycle)
Dhirendra KUMAR
UNFCCC Secretariat, Sustainable Development Mechansims Programme
Outline of the presentation
• Background
• New Registration & Issuance Procedures
• New Registration & Issuance Review Procedures
• Results and statics to date…
• Conclusion
Background
• During the course of 2009/2010, the waiting time associated
with new project submissions has become an area of
increasing focus and urgency for the Executive Board.
• In 2009/2010, the Board, supported by the secretariat, has
undertaken a number of measures (VVM, new procedures etc.)
in an attempt to:
a) Reduce the waiting time for new project submissions;
b) Increase efficiency in CDM project cycle; and
c) Assess quality of submissions.
Average Number of Days Between Project Submission andCompleteness Check
(Commencement)
Background
100
Re gistration
Issuance
80
60
40
20
0
Jan- Mar- May09
09
09
Jul- Sep- Nov- Jan- Mar- May09
09
09
10
10
10
Jul- Sep- Nov10
10
10
Background
The Board has taken several measures to address the issue,
including:
1. Introduction of an enhanced completeness check for project
submissions (EB 48);
2. Prioritizing new submissions over resubmissions (EB 53);
3. Adoption of new procedures for registration of project
activities and issuance of CERs (EB 54);
4. Adoption of new review procedures for registration and
issuance (EB 55).
New Registration & Issuance Procedures
• Adopted during EB 54 (May 2010).
• It has increased transparency regarding the secretariat’s
assessment of project submissions and include predictable
timelines for when a project submission is handled by the
secretariat.
• Checklists for each of the two stage completeness checks (initial
completeness check and information and reporting check) were
issued.
• Further, to incentivize the high quality initial submissions, the
Board at its 59th Meeting revised this procedure with the
effective date of registration being the date by which the DOE
submits a complete request for registration.
New Registration & Issuance Procedures

Initial Completeness Check (CC) is the first “action” taken by the
Secretariat when dealing with “Requests for Registration & Issuance”;
New Registration & Issuance Procedures
• As per the new procedures, projects that fail to pass either of
these two stage completeness checks (initial CC and I&RC) are
sent back to the PP/DOE for corrections and when resubmitted,
these requests are treated like new submissions (without priority).
• The idea behind this change is to create an incentive for high
quality initial submissions.
• Similarly, making the secretariat’s checklists publicly available is
intended to increase transparency and allow PP/DOEs to
anticipate work performed by the secretariat and thereby also
improve the quality of submissions.
New Registration & Issuance Review Procedures
•
Adopted during EB 55 (July 2010).
•
Key features:
a) Multiple rounds of review assessments and corrections
have been eliminated.
b) The Board discussion of each review case is now triggered
only if there is a disagreement between the assessments
provided by respectively the secretariat and the RIT, or if a
Board member disagrees with the recommendation made
by the secretariat and the RIT.
•
These two features are expected to simplify and speed up the
review process for requests for registration and issuance.
New Review Procedures Timeline
Commence
Review
Request
for
Review
DOE Response
(28 Days)
Start
Objection
Period
Secretariat
+
RIT
Assessm.
EB Member
Objection
Period
(14 Days)
(20 Days)
Decision
Becomes
Final
In Case of
Rejection:
Ruling objection
period
(10days)
Objection
=> Discuss
at next EB
New Procedures Implementation Timeline - Summary
EB54: Reg&Iss
Procedures
Adopted
Jun
Jul
R&I Procedures
Implemented
for all new
submissions
EB55: Review
Procedures
Adopted
Aug
EB58: “Last”
batch of projects
approved or
rejected under
old procedures
EB56: RfRs
under old
procedures
considered
Sep
All requests for
review after July 30
handled in
accordance w new
procedures
Oct
Nov
First reviews
commenced
under new
procedures
Dec
First batch of
projects with new
review procedure
considered at
EB58
Results and statics to date…..
Compliance charts – Registration & Issuance
• Time taken for steps in assessment process - actions are
being completed within the timelines established;
• Seems revised procedures have also partially led to a
decrease in the overall waiting time due to the streamlining
of the steps in general.
Results and statics to date…..
Results and statics to date…..
Results and statics to date…..
• Since December 2010 for Registration and since January 2011
for Issuance, projects upon submission have been commenced
for assessment within less than a month’s time.
• Operational planning will continue to make use of outsourcing
(external experts) to address future peaks in submissions and
reoccurrence of similar backlog.
• Approved staffing levels is expected to be completed within
2011.
Registration
Issuance
Submissions awaiting
commencement (as of 11th
March 2011)
98
62
Awaiting commencement since
submitted (as of 11th March
2011)
11th Feb 11
18th Feb 11
Conclusion…
• Although registration related submissions may be
sustainably handled with recent operational adjustments and
resource plans (including outsourcing), this is unlikely for
issuance given the continued expected growth in requests.
• To achieve a longer term balance and to ensure secretariat
provides timely assessment of projects, the Board will need
to consider further improvements and clarifications of its
rules and guidelines (for example sampling).
Thank you!
For more information:
http://cdm.unfccc.int
Enquiries can be sent to:
Cdm-info@unfccc.int