EN
The EU trade in entitlements for the emission of carbon dioxide presents the first in the world, international market mechanism of an environmental dimension. It is expected that it will be conclusive to the socially cheapest internalization of external costs in the operations of enterprises which emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses while maintaining and developing the competitiveness of EU economy. Verification of these expectations will be feasible following the first settlement period, i.e. in 2008. In this year SME's will also be fully covered by the schema.