New Digital Tracking Period for Coal and Fuel
Official titleRegulation on the Control of Solid Fuels for the Purpose of Protecting Air Quality
A new regulation bringing the production, importation, storage, bagging and sale processes of domestic and imported solid fuels (coal, petroleum coke and biofuel) under strict supervision and digital tracking has entered into force.
Before
Solid fuels were tracked manually or through limited digital methods; bags did not feature colour coding or mandatory QR code integration; and inspections concerning the use of petroleum coke and domestic coal were conducted with less integration.
After
All solid fuel transactions shall be declared through the Katı Yakıt Modülü (KYM) within 24 hours. Coal intended for heating shall be sold in colour-coded bags bearing QR codes according to its place of use. The fuel allocations of facilities exceeding the emission limits shall be cancelled immediately.
Details of the Regulation
The regulation comprehensively reorganizes the importation, production, placing on the market and inspection processes for all solid fuels used for heating and industrial purposes (coal, petroleum coke, biofuel, etc.). In line with the objective of protecting air quality, solid fuels to be imported or produced domestically are required to obtain a certificate of compliance from the Çevre, Şehircilik ve İklim Değişikliği Bakanlığı. All these processes shall be digitally tracked through the Katı Yakıt Modülü (KYM) under the Ministry's Hava Emisyon Yönetim (HEY) Portalı.
The use of petroleum coke at industrial facilities has been made subject to extremely strict conditions. Petroleum coke allocations shall be made only to facilities that have an environmental permit and whose stacks are monitored online through the Sürekli Emisyon Ölçüm Sistemi (SEÖS). Facilities using petroleum coke for the first time shall be issued a trial allocation certificate valid for a maximum of six months, and the allocations of facilities exceeding the emission limits shall be cancelled immediately. In addition, the installation of dust suppression systems compliant with the TS 13883 standard has been made mandatory for coal stored in the open.
Bagging and colour standards have been introduced for placing heating coal on the market. Imported coal shall be packaged in green bags, domestic coal in first-group provinces in blue bags, coal in second-group provinces in yellow bags, coal for rural neighborhoods in gray bags, coal distributed free of charge in white bags, and biomass pellets in transparent bags. An electronic tracking infrastructure using QR codes shall be established on all bags. Existing documents shall remain valid until 30 June 2027, while the requirement for coloured bags with QR codes shall enter into force on 1 June 2028.
Questions You Might Have
- Will the seller, distributor or import documents I previously obtained become invalid immediately?
- No, Compliance, Sales, Distributor, Seller and Importer Registration documents obtained before the date of publication of the regulation shall remain valid until 30 June 2027.
- What do the different colours of coal bags mean, and what do green or blue bags indicate?
- The bag colours indicate the type of coal and where it may be used: green represents imported coal, blue represents coal for first-group provinces, yellow for second-group provinces, gray for rural areas, white for coal distributed free of charge, and transparent for biomass pellets.
- What penalties shall be imposed on companies found to sell low-quality or non-compliant solid fuels?
- Severe monetary penalties shall be imposed under Article 20 of the Çevre Kanunu. In addition, all operating certificates of companies that receive penalties twice for the same violation within one year shall be cancelled, and the drawing up of new documents shall be prohibited for one year.
Key Terms
- SEÖS (Sürekli Emisyon Ölçüm Sistemi)
- The technological infrastructure that ensures the uninterrupted online monitoring of pollutant gases emitted from the stacks of industrial facilities.
- Katı Yakıt Modülü (KYM)
- The system under the Çevre, Şehircilik ve İklim Değişikliği Bakanlığı portal through which the certification and stock tracking of solid fuels are carried out digitally.
- Müteselsilen Sorumluluk
- Where solid fuels are released as non-compliant, the producer, importer, distributor and seller shall be held jointly and severally liable in both civil and criminal law.
Affected Sectors
- Energy
- Mining
- Coal trade
- Cement and lime industry
- Heating technology
- Logistics
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REGAS Commentary
This regulation aims to prevent the use of low-quality coal for heating, particularly in areas where air pollution is intense, and to stop the uncontrolled burning of petroleum coke in industry. It ensures more standardized and controlled fuel use for consumers, while imposing serious bureaucratic and operational obligations on importers, producers and sellers, such as the requirement to enter every transaction into the digital system within 24 hours.