CME Maintains EU Emissions Halt; Lifts Force Majeure On Contract

CME Group Inc. (CME) said Tuesday that trading in some carbon contracts would remain suspended as governments in the region continue probes into the alleged theft of permits used in the European Union's Emissions Trading System, or ETS.

The world's largest emissions market was closed in January after the discovery of security breaches, but has gradually reopened as governments verified permits held in national registries.

CME said trading in daily European Union Allowance futures on its Green Exchange venture would remain shuttered.

"GreenX has had discussions with its clearing members and other market participants regarding lifting the suspension on trading and has received support for continuing the suspension until more complete information is available on the known cases of alleged theft and the next steps taken at the EU level," CME said in a notice.

CME also said it would lift the Force Majeure event declared on the Jan. 19 contract day of the European Allowance Contract.

Confidence in the ETS plunged in January after permits worth tens of millions of euros were stolen from three national registries, the electronic systems in which each country records market transactions. This pushed the European Commission--which oversees the ETS--to shut down spot trading until governments proved to have stepped up security.

On Feb. 4, the registries from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia and the United Kingdom were the first to reopen, as the commission said they had given reasonable assurance of meeting minimum security requirements.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135; doug.cameron@dowjones.com

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