Germany’s Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has retracted its intention to accept Serbian-issued Guarantees of Origin (GOs) for disclosure purposes.
On 4 February 2025, UBA communicated in a newsletter its intention to accept GOs issued in Serbia, Cyprus and Greece for imports, following a commissioned reserach which assessed the accuracy and reliability of the GO systems in the three countries.
However, in its latest newsletter from 25 June 2025, UBA retracted its original intention to accept Serbian GOs after consulting the technical supervisory authority at the German Ministry of Energy and Economy.
This applies regardless of which European register the Serbian GOs originate from. The recognition of Greek and Cypriot GOs remains unaffected.
The likely reason for UBA’s position change is the fact that Serbia is not an EU member.
Serbia is the only country part of the Energy Community (EnC) that is a member of the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB) and is fully compliant with the European Energy Certificates System (EECS).
However, it is yet to sign an agreement for mutual GO recognition with the European Commission. A roadmap for achieving mutual recognition is still in the making.
The UBA’s latest newsletter clears a likely confusion about the status of Serbian GOs when it comes to using them for disclosure within the EU. It is unclear whether any Serbian GOs have been imported into Germany in the months since UBA’s first newsletter was published.
Back in 2023, the Spanish registry suspended the import and export of Serbian GOs, stating that it was going to examing the legal framework taking into account both national and European regulations.
Serbia had previously investigated possibilities to start exporting GOs to some EU markets amid its AIB membership, but provisions of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) prevented such realisation.
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