Because of uncertainty regarding trading with “used” certified emission reductions (CER), Nord Pool ASA and NASDAQ OMX Commodities have had decided to suspend all trading and clearing of CER contracts on 17 March 2010.

The CER spot market will reopen for trading with the following restrictions:

• a condition for sale and clearing of CER spot contracts will be that the seller has pre-delivered the relevant quantity of CERs and that the clearing house has verified
• that the pre-delivered CERs have not already been surrendered for compliance within the EU allowance Scheme
• all buy and sell orders will be registered through Nord Pool’s telephone based system for exchange trading (MTS). Hence, it will not be possible for members to enter orders directly into the electronic trading system (ETS)
• it will not be possible to register OTC traded CER spot contracts for clearing.

Please note that it can take up to 8 business days, depending upon when the next update of the list of surrendered CERs is published by the EU, for the clearing house’s verification of the pre-delivered CERs. Members are advised to pre-deliver CER allowances well in advance of the intended sell date.