21/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - Ten Chinese and Indian companies could be fined. Eight Chinese airlines and two Indian airlines do not yet comply with the ETS directive and are liable to be fined, Isaac Valero-Ladron, the spokesman for Connie Hedegaard, Commissioner for Climate Action, confirmed on Tuesday 21 May. The reason for this is that these companies have announced their refusal to pay for 15% of the quotas allocated to them in 2012 for intra-Community flights (Air China, for example, has flights between London and Munich and between Munich and Athens). They have also failed to communicate their emissions within the time set and to surrender their quotas for their total emissions. Although the EU has “stopped the ETS clock” for intercontinental flights, the directive applies to all flights within the EU. The spokesman states that member states will contact the airlines concerned and inform them of the provisions of EU legislation. They will then verify the level of those emissions for the calculation of the fines. Pursuant to the ETS directive, offenders in breach of EU legislation may be fined €100 per tonne of CO2 emitted. This, the spokesman said, all depends on the response that is given by the airlines and on their degree of cooperation. (AN/transl.jl)