On 19 March 2018, after over two and half years of negotiations, the reviewed EU ETS Directive, Directive (EU) 2018/410, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. It will provide a legal basis for the implementing legislation of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for phase 4 (period 2021-2030).

The European Parliament formally approved the reviewed EU ETS Directive on 6 February, with the adoption of the inter-institutional agreement from November 2017. The Directive was adopted in plenary with 535 votes to 104, with 39 abstentions. A long list of implementing laws is yet to be drafted ahead of the ETS phase 4 (2021-2030).

The EU ETS system covers more than 12,000 ceramic installations across Europe, representing 10% of the total number of ETS industrial installations, but less than 1% of EU ETS industrial emissions. Cerame-Unie's position paper on the ETS directive review can be found here.