India, 25 countries oppose EU plan on emission trading

India and 25 other countries including the US, China, Russia and Brazil, have opposed the European Union's (EU) plan to include aviation under its emission trading scheme and impose emission charges on airlines flying into the region starting next year.

After a two-day meeting here, the non-EU ICAO members adopted a joint declaration in which they termed as "unilateral" the imposition of EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS), saying it was "inconsistent with applicable international law".

Vowing to oppose the imposition of the ETS tax on their airlines flying to EU, Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi said, "The members asked the EU and its member states to refrain from including flights by non-EU carriers to and from an airport in the EU in its emission trading system."

The recent measure by the 27-nation bloc to impose carbon curbs on flights to and from the region have sparked protests by the non-EU members.

The EU move, which would become effective from 2012, would lead to a hike in air fares on these flights as the airlines, which would be paying the ETS charges, would onpass them to their customers.

The declaration, adopted at the meeting here, asked the EU member states to work collaboratively with rest of the international community to address aviation emissions.

The non-EU countries expressed concerns about EU-ETS measures violating the Chicago Convention governing international aviation and also provisions of the WTO.

The EU-ETS, also known as the European Union Emissions Trading System, is the largest multi-national emissions trading scheme in the world.