1.Allowances issued from 1 January 2012 onwards shall be held in the Union registry for the execution of processes pertaining to the maintenance of the holding accounts opened in the Member State and the allocation, surrender and cancellation of allowances under the Commission Acts referred to in paragraph 3.

Each Member State shall be able to fulfil the execution of authorised operations under the UNFCCC or the Kyoto Protocol.

2. Any person may hold allowances. The registry shall be accessible to the public and shall contain separate accounts to record the allowances held by each person to whom and from whom allowances are issued or transferred.

3. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 23 to supplement this Directive by laying down all necessary requirements concerning the Union Registry for the trading period commencing on 1 January 2013 and subsequent periods, in the form of standardised electronic databases containing common data elements to track the issue, holding, transfer and cancellation, as applicable, of allowances, and to provide for public access and confidentiality, as appropriate. Those delegated acts shall also include provisions to put into effect rules on the mutual recognition of allowances in agreements to link emission trading systems.