Article 12 1

1.   The Commission shall establish by 27 December 2028 and thereafter duly maintain a Union registry for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products, to make publicly available the information related to the certification process in an accessible way, containing, as a minimum, the information set out in Annex III.

When establishing the Union registry, the Commission shall take into account the reports referred to in Article 30(5), point (a), of Directive 2003/87/EC and Article 17(3) of Regulation (EU) 2018/841.

The Union registry shall use automated systems, including electronic templates, to make publicly accessible in a secure way the information related to the certification process, including the certificates of compliance and updated certificates of compliance, to enable the tracing of the quantity of certified units and avoid double counting.

The Union registry shall be financed by annual fixed fees payable by users. Those fees shall be proportionate to the use of the Union registry and sufficient to contribute to the coverage of the establishment costs and annual operating costs of the Union registry, such as those for staff or IT tools.

Resources from such fees shall constitute external assigned revenue for the purpose of Article 21(5) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046. That revenue shall, in particular, cover the costs of IT tools, services and security, including the operation and licensing systems, and the costs of staff working on the management of the Union registry.