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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Queensland
Voluntary Carbon Credit
Trading Bill 2007
Queensland
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
Contents
Page
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Main purpose of Act and its achievement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Part 2 Carbon Credit Trading Corporation
4 Constitution of corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5 Functions of corporation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Part 3 Establishment of the exchange
6 Establishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Part 4 Provisions about the market
Division 1 Preliminary
7 The market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
8 Certificate-based scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Division 2 Carbon credit certificates
9 Certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
10 Cancellation of certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
11 Expiry of certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Division 3 Accreditation
12 Application for accreditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
13 Chief executive officer may accredit business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
14 Chief executive officer may require applicant to give further
information .................................... 8
15 Deciding applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
16 Conditions of accreditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
17 Cancellation of accreditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
18 Chief executive officer to notify of proposed cancellation. . . . . . . 9
2
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
Division 4 Auditing
19 Appointment and functions of auditors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Division 5 Marketing of certificates
20 Trading certificates on exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
21 Publishing price paid for certificates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Division 6 Retailing of certificates
22 Retailed certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
23 Approved entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
24 Selling retailed certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Division 7 Advertising
25 Advertising the holding or purchasing of certificates . . . . . . . . . . 12
Division 8 National and international markets
26 Trading on national and international markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Division 9 Carbon credit certificates register
27 Keeping register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
28 Access to register. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Division 10 Offences
29 False or misleading information given by applicant . . . . . . . . . . . 14
30 False or misleading documents given by applicant . . . . . . . . . . . 14
31 Advertising in other than the prescribed way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Part 5 Corporation to become a company GOC
32 Corporation declared to be government entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
33 Company GOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
34 Control of corporation by QIC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Part 6 Miscellaneous
35 Allegations of false or misleading matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
36 Appeals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
37 Regulation-making power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Schedule Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2007
A Bill
for
An Act to establish Carbon Credit Trading Corporation as a
government owned corporation to manage a scheme for
marketing carbon credit certificates, and for related purposes
s1 4 s3
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
The Parliament of Queensland enacts-- 1
Part 1 Preliminary 2
1 Short title 3
This Act may be cited as the Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading 4
Act 2007. 5
2 Main purpose of Act and its achievement 6
(1) The main purpose of this Act is to facilitate reductions in 7
emissions of greenhouse gases, in the State, nationally and 8
internationally, in a cost-effective and voluntary way. 9
(2) The purpose is to be achieved mainly by implementing a 10
scheme for marketing carbon credit certificates on an 11
exchange and for retailing the certificates. 12
(3) It is Parliament's expectation that the scheme will-- 13
(a) reduce the growth in greenhouse gas emissions and 14
other emissions that may be relevant to climate change, 15
associated with power generation, transportation, 16
manufacturing and other business activities; and 17
(b) contribute to the diversification of the State's energy 18
mix towards the greater use of alternative energy 19
sources; and 20
(c) encourage businesses to engage in programs for treating 21
or using carbon dioxide for sequestration, including, for 22
example, planting trees and other vegetation; and 23
(d) encourage individuals and businesses to contribute 24
funds to assist the development of alternative energy 25
sources to meet future requirements. 26
3 Dictionary 27
The dictionary in the schedule defines particular words used 28
in this Act. 29
s4 5 s5
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
Part 2 Carbon Credit Trading 1
Corporation 2
4 Constitution of corporation 3
(1) The Carbon Credit Trading Corporation is established. 4
(2) The corporation is a body corporate. 5
Note-- 6
For particular provisions about the corporation, see part 5. 7
5 Functions of corporation 8
(1) The corporation has the following functions-- 9
(a) establishing an accreditation system for businesses that 10
reduce or remove carbon emissions; 11
(b) issuing carbon credit certificates to owners of accredited 12
businesses; 13
(c) facilitating the trading of carbon credit certificates on 14
the Carbon Credit Trading Exchange established under 15
part 3 (the exchange); 16
(d) keeping a register of holdings and transactions of carbon 17
credit certificates; 18
(e) taking active measures to ensure carbon credit 19
certificates become acceptable and tradeable in national 20
and international markets; 21
(f) performing another function given to the corporation 22
under this or another Act; 23
(g) taking action incidental to the discharge of a function 24
mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (f). 25
(2) The corporation must perform its functions in a way that is 26
consistent with the main purpose of this Act or the way in 27
which section 2 states it is to be achieved. 28
s6 6 s8
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
Part 3 Establishment of the exchange 1
6 Establishment 2
The corporation is the exchange. 3
Part 4 Provisions about the market 4
Division 1 Preliminary 5
7 The market 6
This part establishes the market for the exchange. 7
8 Certificate-based scheme 8
(1) This part provides for a certificate-based scheme for the 9
purposes of the market. 10
(2) Under the scheme-- 11
(a) the chief executive officer may-- 12
(i) on application by a person, accredit the person's 13
business as a business that removes or reduces 14
carbon emissions; and 15
(ii) issue carbon credit certificates to the person; and 16
(b) local governments, departments and other entities may, 17
having purchased a parcel of carbon credit certificates-- 18
(i) sell individual carbon credit certificates to 19
residents of their local government areas or their 20
customers; and 21
(ii) use the supply of goods and services as the basis 22
for collecting funds to pay for the individual 23
certificates; and 24
(c) the exchange controls the trading of certificates. 25
s9 7 s 12
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
Division 2 Carbon credit certificates 1
9 Certificates 2
The corporation may, in the way prescribed under a 3
regulation, issue to an accredited business the following 4
carbon credit certificates under the scheme (each a 5
certificate)-- 6
(a) a certificate for each carbon unit that a person removes 7
from the atmosphere, including, for example, by 8
removing carbon dioxide by sequestration; 9
(b) a certificate for each carbon unit that a person would, 10
had the person not used an alternative energy source, 11
have produced by using fossil fuels; 12
(c) a certificate for each carbon unit that a person producing 13
energy by fossil fuels reduces carbon emissions 14
compared to the relevant industry standard. 15
10 Cancellation of certificates 16
The corporation may cancel a certificate in the circumstances 17
prescribed under a regulation. 18
11 Expiry of certificates 19
Unless a certificate is cancelled, it expires when the earlier of 20
the following happens-- 21
(a) its purchase under division 6; 22
(b) the end of 2 years after it is issued. 23
Division 3 Accreditation 24
12 Application for accreditation 25
(1) A person who is the owner of a business may apply to the 26
chief executive officer for accreditation of the business. 27
(2) The application must be-- 28
s 13 8 s 14
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
(a) made in the form approved by the chief executive 1
officer; and 2
(b) lodged at the registered office of the corporation; and 3
(c) accompanied by-- 4
(i) the documents stated in the form; and 5
(ii) the fee prescribed under a regulation. 6
13 Chief executive officer may accredit business 7
(1) The chief executive officer may accredit a business as an 8
accredited business. 9
(2) In deciding whether to accredit a business, the chief executive 10
officer must have regard to each of the following-- 11
(a) whether the business removes carbon units from the 12
atmosphere, including, for example, by removing 13
carbon dioxide by sequestration; 14
(b) whether the business reduces carbon emissions by using 15
an alternative energy source instead of using fossil fuels; 16
(c) whether a business that uses fossil fuels as an energy 17
source produces less carbon emissions compared to the 18
relevant industry standard; 19
(d) any other matters stated in the guidelines prescribed 20
under a regulation. 21
14 Chief executive officer may require applicant to give 22
further information 23
(1) The chief executive officer may, by written notice, require an 24
applicant for accreditation of a business to give the chief 25
executive officer any further information about the application 26
as the chief executive officer requires. 27
(2) The notice may state the period within which the information 28
must be given. 29
s 15 9 s 18
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
15 Deciding applications 1
The corporation must consider, and decide to approve or 2
refuse to approve, each application for accreditation. 3
16 Conditions of accreditation 4
(1) The accreditation of an accredited business is subject to the 5
following conditions-- 6
(a) any conditions imposed by the chief executive officer at 7
the time of accreditation; 8
(b) any conditions prescribed under a regulation. 9
(2) The accreditation remains in force, unless sooner cancelled, 10
for a period prescribed under a regulation. 11
17 Cancellation of accreditation 12
The chief executive officer may, by written notice given to an 13
accredited business, cancel the accreditation if the chief 14
executive officer reasonably believes a condition of the 15
accreditation has been contravened. 16
18 Chief executive officer to notify of proposed cancellation 17
(1) Before cancelling an accreditation, the chief executive officer 18
must give written notice of the proposed cancellation to the 19
holder of the accreditation. 20
(2) The notice-- 21
(a) must state that the chief executive officer proposes to 22
cancel the accreditation; and 23
(b) may invite the holder to make a written submission to 24
the chief executive officer about the proposed 25
cancellation (a submission). 26
(3) The notice must state a period within which the holder of the 27
accreditation may make the submission. 28
(4) The period must not end earlier than 30 days after the day on 29
which the notice was given. 30
s 19 10 s 20
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
(5) In considering whether to cancel an accreditation, the chief 1
executive officer must have regard to any submission made. 2
(6) This section does not apply to a cancellation requested by the 3
holder of the accreditation. 4
Division 4 Auditing 5
19 Appointment and functions of auditors 6
(1) The chief executive officer may appoint a person who has the 7
necessary expertise or experience to carry out the functions of 8
an auditor. 9
(2) A person appointed as an auditor has the following 10
functions-- 11
(a) to assist the chief executive officer to assess applications 12
for accreditation by auditing the businesses to which the 13
applications relates; 14
(b) to audit accredited businesses, in the way and at the 15
intervals prescribed under a regulation, and report to the 16
chief executive officer on whether, in the auditor's 17
opinion, the accredited businesses are complying with 18
the conditions of their accreditation. 19
Division 5 Marketing of certificates 20
20 Trading certificates on exchange 21
(1) Certificates may be traded on the exchange. 22
(2) The holder of a certificate may sell the certificate to another 23
entity. 24
(3) Certificates may be traded only in parcels of a number 25
prescribed under a regulation. 26
(4) The exchange must, in the way prescribed under a regulation, 27
control the sale. 28
s 21 11 s 23
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
(5) The seller and the purchaser of each parcel of certificates 1
traded on the exchange must pay the exchange the fee 2
prescribed under a regulation for the trade. 3
21 Publishing price paid for certificates 4
The exchange must, in the way and at the times or intervals 5
prescribed under a regulation, publish the price paid for 6
certificates. 7
Division 6 Retailing of certificates 8
22 Retailed certificates 9
(1) A parcel of certificates traded on the exchange may be divided 10
into individual certificates (each a retailed certificate). 11
(2) A retailed certificate may be sold only by an approved entity 12
in the way provided for under section 24. 13
23 Approved entities 14
(1) This section applies to the following (each an approved 15
entity)-- 16
(a) a local government; 17
(b) a department; 18
(c) another entity if the entity, or class of entity, is an entity 19
or class approved under a regulation. 20
(2) An approved entity that has purchased a parcel of certificates 21
from the exchange may-- 22
(a) divide the parcel into retailed certificates; and 23
(b) sell the retailed certificates to the residents of their local 24
government areas or their customers in the way 25
provided for under section 24. 26
(3) If a parcel of certificates is purchased and divided into retailed 27
certificates, the price at which each retailed certificate may be 28
sold is the price paid for the certificate. 29
s 24 12 s 25
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
24 Selling retailed certificates 1
(1) An approved entity proposing to sell a retailed certificate must 2
estimate or work out the amount of carbon units the person is 3
likely to consume, or has consumed, in a particular period by 4
using an energy source that the entity provides or to which the 5
entity has a connection. 6
(2) The approved entity must give the person notice of the 7
number of carbon units estimated or worked out under 8
subsection (1) and the price for the retailed certificates for the 9
carbon units. 10
(3) The person may choose to pay the approved entity the price to 11
purchase the retailed certificates. 12
Examples of the process by which an approved entity may sell retailed 13
certificates to a person-- 14
1 A local government may include in each rates notice given to an 15
owner of land in its local government area the price to purchase 16
retailed certificates for the carbon units the local government works 17
out the owner has produced, using water and other services the 18
local government has provided, in the period to which the notice 19
relates. 20
2 The department in which the Transport Operations (Road Use 21
Management) Act 1995 is administered may include in a 22
registration renewal notice for a registered vehicle the price to 23
purchase retailed certificates for the carbon units the department 24
estimates the vehicle may produce in the period to which the 25
registration relates. 26
3 An approved entity who is an electricity or gas retailer may include 27
in each electricity or gas account given to an electricity or gas 28
customer of the retailer the price to purchase retailed certificates for 29
the carbon units the retailer works out the customer has produced in 30
the period to which the account relates. 31
Division 7 Advertising 32
25 Advertising the holding or purchasing of certificates 33
A person who holds a certificate or purchases a retailed 34
certificate may, in the way prescribed under a regulation, 35
advertise or promote that the person holds the certificate or 36
has purchased the retailed certificate. 37
s 26 13 s 28
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
Division 8 National and international markets 1
26 Trading on national and international markets 2
(1) The corporation must take all necessary steps to promote its 3
activities within and outside the State. 4
(2) It is Parliament's expectation that certificates may be able to 5
be traded on national and international markets. 6
Division 9 Carbon credit certificates register 7
27 Keeping register 8
(1) The chief executive officer must keep a register of details 9
about the allocation, holding, transfer, cancellation and expiry 10
of certificates. 11
(2) The chief executive officer may also keep in the register 12
information that the chief executive considers appropriate 13
about matters relating to this Act or another Act. 14
(3) The chief executive officer must include in the register the 15
information prescribed under a regulation. 16
28 Access to register 17
The chief executive officer must-- 18
(a) keep the register open for inspection by the public 19
during office hours on business days at the places the 20
chief executive officer considers appropriate; and 21
(b) allow a person to take extracts, free of charge, from the 22
register; and 23
(c) give a person who asks for a copy of all or part of a 24
notice, a document or information held in the register 25
the copy on payment of the fee prescribed under a 26
regulation. 27
s 29 14 s 32
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
Division 10 Offences 1
29 False or misleading information given by applicant 2
A person who applies for accreditation of the person's 3
business must not state anything to the chief executive officer 4
that the person knows is false or misleading in a material 5
particular. 6
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 7
30 False or misleading documents given by applicant 8
A person who applies for accreditation of the person's 9
business must not give the chief executive officer a document 10
containing information the person knows is false or 11
misleading in a material particular. 12
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 13
31 Advertising in other than the prescribed way 14
A person must not advertise or promote, other than in the 15
prescribed way, that the person holds a certificate or has 16
purchased a retailed certificate. 17
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 18
Part 5 Corporation to become a 19
company GOC 20
32 Corporation declared to be government entity 21
The corporation is declared to be a government entity for 22
section 5 of the GOC Act. 23
s 33 15 s 36
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
33 Company GOC 1
The Minister and the Minister administering the GOC Act 2
must take all necessary steps under the GOC Act to ensure the 3
corporation becomes a company GOC. 4
34 Control of corporation by QIC 5
(1) To ensure QIC maintains control over the corporation as a 6
company GOC, the majority of directors appointed under 7
section 57 or 96 of the GOC Act must be persons who are also 8
directors of QIC. 9
(2) In this section-- 10
QIC means the Queensland Investment Corporation 11
established under the Queensland Investment Corporation Act 12
1991, section 5. 13
Part 6 Miscellaneous 14
35 Allegations of false or misleading matters 15
(1) This section applies to a proceeding for an offence against this 16
Act described as involving-- 17
(a) false or misleading information; or 18
(b) a false or misleading document or statement. 19
(2) It is enough for the complaint starting the proceeding to state 20
the document, information or statement was `false or 21
misleading' to the defendant's knowledge, without specifying 22
which. 23
(3) In the proceeding, evidence that the document, information or 24
statement was given or made recklessly is evidence that it was 25
given or made so as to be false or misleading. 26
36 Appeals 27
(1) This section applies to the following decisions-- 28
s 37 16 s 37
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
(a) a decision to refuse to accredit a business; 1
(b) a decision to state a condition of an accreditation; 2
(c) a decision to cancel an accreditation. 3
(2) A person whose interests are affected by the decision must be 4
given an information notice. 5
(3) The person to whom an information notice is given may 6
appeal to the body, and in the way, prescribed under a 7
regulation. 8
(4) In this section-- 9
appeal, to a body, includes to seek a review by the body. 10
information notice, for a decision, means a notice stating 11
each of the following-- 12
(a) the decision, and the reasons for it; 13
(b) all rights of appeal under this Act; 14
(c) the period in which any appeal under this Act must be 15
started; 16
(d) how rights of appeal under this Act are to be exercised; 17
(e) that a stay of a decision the subject of appeal under this 18
Act may be applied for under this Act. 19
37 Regulation-making power 20
(1) The Governor in Council may make regulations under this 21
Act. 22
(2) A regulation may be made about any of the following-- 23
(a) what are relevant industry standards for a provision of 24
this Act; 25
(b) the fees payable under this Act; 26
(c) imposing a penalty for a contravention of a provision of 27
a regulation of no more than 20 penalty units. 28
17
Voluntary Carbon Credit Trading Bill 2007
Schedule Dictionary 1
section 3 2
accredited business means a business accredited under part 4, 3
division 3. 4
alternative energy source means energy produced using other 5
than a fossil fuel source, including, for example, biogas, 6
geothermal energy, hydro-electricity, solar power and wind 7
power. 8
approved entity see section 23(1). 9
auditor means a person appointed as an auditor under section 10
19. 11
carbon credit certificate means a carbon credit certificate that 12
may be issued under section 9. 13
carbon credit certificate register means the register the chief 14
executive officer keeps under section 27. 15
carbon unit means a measure of carbon emissions provided 16
for under a regulation. 17
certificate see section 9. 18
chief executive officer means the chief executive officer of the 19
corporation. 20
corporation means the Carbon Credit Trading Corporation 21
established under section 4. 22
exchange see section 5(1)(c). 23
GOC Act means the Government Owned Corporations Act 24
1993. 25
retailed certificate see section 22(1). 26
scheme means the certificate-based scheme under section 8. 27
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