The Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Industrial Alliance (hereafter ‘the Alliance’) is a voluntary collaboration of stakeholders from across the transport fuels and other relevant value chains, from sourcing to end-users, as well as technology and finance providers for each step in the value chain representing both the supply side and the demand side from aviation and waterborne sectors as well as civil society organisation and governments and their agencies.
The ultimate objective of the Alliance is to ensure that aviation and waterborne transport have sufficient access to renewable and low carbon fuels, while taking into account the future use of these fuels in road transport, and thus contribute to the reduction in the transport sector’s GHG emissions by 90 percent by 2050. Currently, supply of these fuels is very limited and concentrated on road transport leaving aviation and waterborne transport far behind. Demand will quickly grow due to regulatory requirements of RefuelEU Aviation and FuelEU Maritime when enacted. Therefore, taking into account their own specificities, particular focus is needed to develop fuel production, storage and distribution capacity for aviation and waterborne transport.
Objectives, Rules of Membership and Governance Structure of the Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Industrial Alliance are outlined in Annex B to this declaration (see PDF version linked above).
The Alliance does not exclude any modes: in the medium term, different renewable and low-carbon fuels will continue to play an important role in the decarbonisation of road transport, and businesses active in road transport fuel production, storage and distribution that are interested in diversifying their customer base and expanding into the aviation and waterborne sectors would be an added-value in the Alliance. This would mean new business opportunities and would provide greater resilience over the entire value chain.
All members and persons involved in the activities of the Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Alliance shall fully respect all applicable laws and regulations applicable to forms of cooperation between businesses, in particular EU and national competition rules, as informed by compliance guidelines presented in Annex C (see PDF version linked above).
Acting in within the authorisations delegated by my organisation, I duly declare based on my authorisations, the institution I am representing will firmly support the objectives of the Alliance and contribute towards its activities.
Before filling in the form, make sure to read all the elements of the alliance delcaration, inlcuding the annexes and privacy statement below:
General Assembly
Thematic Roundtables
Secretariat
Steering Group
[1] Such as European Sustainable Shipping Forum, ART Forum, ETIP Bioenergy and similar.
[2] The European Commission action plan “Towards a Zero Pollution Ambition for air, water and soil
– building a Healthier Planet for Healthier People” adopted on 12 May 2021
[3] A pilot project for the EU “Clearing House” for aviation fuels certification is in preparation by DG MOVE and EASA. The Alliance will provide input into the design of this clearing house as well as contribute to the monitoring of implementation and evaluation of the pilot project results.
[4] Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources.
Disclaimer: These guidelines offer general guidance and are without prejudice to the application of EU or national competition rules.
The members of the Renewable and Low Carbon Fuels Value Chain Alliance should strive for these general principles:
The Alliance members join force to reach the objectives of the Alliance as outlined in the Alliance declaration and, accordingly, engage in discussions and dialogue, data exchange and collaborations .
The Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value chain Alliance has adopted the following guidelines and instructions to ensure that the Alliance members take particular care to ban any form of anti-competitive behaviour from their participation and activities in this Alliance and comply with EU competition law and relevant national competition laws (hereafter the “competition laws”) [1].
1. Competition risks in the Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Alliance
The members of the Alliance must always take into account that they may be exposed to certain competition law risks including – but not limited to – the following considerations[2]:
2. Information exchanges to avoid
Members of the Alliance must not have formal or informal discussions, in particular with other members who are or may become competitors, relating – but not limited to – the following prohibited subjects amounting, in the senses of competition law, to commercially sensitive information [5]:
Note: Should the limited, temporary and objectively necessary exchange of sensitive commercial information be warranted in the context of the proposed Alliance, additional principles and guidelines will be required.
3. Allowed Information exchanges
To the extent that they do not amount, in the sense of competition law, to commercially sensitive information. Members of the Alliance may have formal or informal discussions, and exchange of information, on the following subjects:
4. Appropriate conduct at meetings of the Alliance
As a general matter, it should be highlighted that just being present when illegal discussions are taking place may be sufficient to consider a company liable for a competition law infringement, even if that company and/or its representative(s) did not proactively engage in those discussions.
Transparency, notably through the documentation of all exchanges in the context of the Alliance meetings is essential. Alliance members should therefore, when attending Alliance meetings, always:
The presence of a Commission representative does not release participants from liability should the exchange of sensitive information occur.
In addition, members of the Alliance should, if they become aware of a competition law infringement or are uncertain whether particular conduct within the Alliance is allowed under the competition laws:
In addition, anyone can make use of the Anonymous Whistleblower Tool, available under this link: http://ec.europa.eu/competition/cartels/whistleblower/index.html .
Lastly, members of the Alliance should always keep in mind that any failure to take the above actions promptly will make it difficult to later convince a court or competition authority of their opposition to an infringement.
[1] The signatories are also encouraged to visit the dedicated webpage of the Commission’s DG Competition, which provides information on compliance with EU competition law: https://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/compliance/index_en.html. The Commission has issued several sets of guidelines that can help undertakings assess the compatibility of their business arrangements with EU competition law (see notably Communication from the Commission — Notice — Guidelines on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty (OJ C 101, 27.4.2004, p. 97) (“Guidelines on Article 101(3)”), the Communication from the Commission — Guidelines on the applicability of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to horizontal co-operation agreements (OJ C 11, 14.1.2011, p. 1) (“Horizontal Guidelines”) and Commission Notice – Guidelines on Vertical Restraints (OJ C 130, 19.5.2010, p. 1) (“Vertical Guidelines”). See also Commission Regulation (EU) No 1217/2010 of 14 December 2010 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to certain categories of research and development agreements (OJ L 335, 18.12.2010, p. 36) (“R&D Block Exemption Regulation”), Commission Regulation (EU) No 1218/2010 of 14 December 2010 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to certain categories of specialisation agreements, (OJ L 335, 18.12.2010, p. 43) (“Specialisation Block Exemption Regulation”), Commission Regulation (EU) No 316/2014 of 21 March 2014 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to categories of technology transfer agreements (OJ L 93, 28.3.2014, p. 17) (“Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation”), Commission Regulation (EU) No 330/2010 of 20 April 2010 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices (OJ L 102, 23.4.2010, p. 1) (“Vertical Block Exemption Regulation”)
[2] Signing of the declaration as such will not exonerate the signatories from their duty to self-assess the compatibility of their conduct with EU Competition law and from liability in case of an infringement.
[3] See Guidelines on the applicability of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to horizontal co-operation agreements (OJ 2011 C 11/1).
[4] Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty (Text with EEA relevance); OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1–25; in particular Article 23(4).
[5] See also Communication from the Commission — Guidelines on the applicability of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to horizontal co-operation agreements (OJ C 11, 14.1.2011, p. 1) (“Horizontal Guidelines”).
Processing operation |
Membership applications for the Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Alliance |
Data Controller |
European Commission, Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, Unit B4 – Sustainable and Intelligent Transport (hereinafter “DG MOVE Unit B.4” or the “Data Controller”) |
Record reference |
DPR-EC-16809.1 |
The European Commission (hereafter ‘the Commission’) is committed to protect your personal data and to respect your privacy. The Commission collects and further processes personal data pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data (repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001).
This privacy statement explains the reason for the processing of your personal data, the way we collect, handle and ensure protection of all personal data provided, how that information is used and what rights you have in relation to your personal data. It also specifies the contact details of the responsible Data Controller with whom you may exercise your rights, the Data Protection Officer and the European Data Protection Supervisor.
The personal information being collected in relation to processing Membership applications and operation for the Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Alliance (hereafter referred to as “the Alliance”) undertaken by the Data Controller is presented below.
Purpose of the processing operation: the Data Controller collects and uses your personal data for the following purposes:
In line with the above processing purposes, the European Commission keeps:
Your personal data will not be used for any automated decision-making, nor profiling.
We process your personal data, because processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Union institution or body (Article 5(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725), in particular Article 173 of 73 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Pursuant to Article 5(1)(d) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 , your consent is required for sharing of you contact details (listed in point 4) with the Alliance Steering Group and contractors to process your personal data for the purpose of organisational support to the Alliance.
In order to carry out this processing operation the Data Controller collects the following categories of personal data:
We have obtained your personal data from you.
The Data Controller only keeps your personal data for the time necessary to fulfil the purpose of collection or further processing, namely for the duration of the member participation in the Alliance. In case the Alliance is permanently discontinued, contact data will be kept for a maximum of 5 years.
All personal data in electronic format (e-mails, documents, databases, uploaded batches of data, etc.) are stored either on the servers of the European Commission or of its contractors. All processing operations are carried out pursuant to the Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2017/46 of 10 January 2017 on the security of communication and information systems in the European Commission.
The Commission’s contractors are bound by a specific contractual clause for any processing operations of your data on behalf of the Commission, and by the confidentiality obligations deriving from the transposition of the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU Member States (‘GDPR’ Regulation (EU) 2016/679).
In order to protect your personal data, the Commission has put in place a number of technical and organisational measures. Technical measures include appropriate actions to address online security, risk of data loss, alteration of data or unauthorised access, taking into consideration the risk presented by the processing and the nature of the personal data being processed. Organisational measures include restricting access to the personal data solely to authorised persons with a legitimate need to know for the purposes of this processing operation.
Access to your personal data is provided to the Commission staff responsible for carrying out this processing operation and to authorised staff according to the “need to know” principle. Such staff abide by statutory, and when required, additional confidentiality agreements.
We may also share your data with Alliance Steering Group and contractors for the purpose of organisational support to the Alliance. The information shared with the Alliance Steering Group will be limited to:
The information we collect will not be given to any other third party, except to the extent and for the purpose we may be required to do so by law, including the possible transmission of personal data to EU bodies or institutions in charge of audit or inspection in accordance with the EU Treaties.
You have specific rights as a ‘data subject’ under Chapter III (Articles 14-25) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, in particular the right to access, rectify or erase your personal data and the right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Where applicable, you also have the right to object to the processing or the right to data portability.
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data, which is lawfully carried out pursuant to Article 5(1)(a), on grounds relating to your particular situation.
You have consented to provide your personal data to the European Commission, Directorate General for Transport and Mobility for the present processing operation. You can withdraw your consent at any time by notifying the DG MOVE, Unit B4. The withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out before you have withdrawn the consent.
You can exercise your rights by contacting the Data Controller, or in case of conflict the Data Protection Officer. If necessary, you can also address the European Data Protection Supervisor. Their contact information is given under Heading 9 below.
Where you wish to exercise your rights in the context of one or several specific processing operations, please provide their description (i.e. their Record reference(s) as specified under Heading 10 below) in your request. Any request for access to personal data will be handled within one month.
Any other request mentioned above will be addressed within 15 working days.
9.1. The Data Controller
If you would like to exercise your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, or if you have comments, questions or concerns, or if you would like to submit a complaint regarding the collection and use of your personal data, please feel free to contact the Data Controller:
European Commission
Directorate-General For Mobility And Transport
Unit B.4 – Sustainable and Intelligent Transport
Address:
Rue De Mot 28, 1040 Brussels, Belgium
E-mail: MOVE-RLCF-ALLIANCE-TEAM@ec.europa.eu
9.2. The Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the Commission
In case of disagreement with the Data Controller, you may contact the Data Protection Officer (DATA-PROTECTION-OFFICER@ec.europa.eu) with regard to issues related to the processing of your personal data under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
9.3. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)
You have the right to have recourse (i.e. you can lodge a complaint) to the European Data Protection Supervisor (https://edps.europa.eu/data-protection/our-role-supervisor/complaints_en or edps@edps.europa.eu) if you consider that your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 have been infringed as a result of the processing of your personal data by the Data Controller.
The Commission DPO publishes the register of all processing operations on personal data by the Commission, which have been documented and notified to him. You may access the register via the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/dpo-register
This processing operation has been included in the DPO’s public register with the following Record reference: DPR-EC-16809.1.