London, 3 February 2011

Five carbon registries will reopen Friday, the EU commission said. The registries of France, Germany the Netherlands, Slovakia and the UK will resume normal operations on Friday 0700 GMT, the commission said in a statement Thursday.

The national registries holding EU allowances under the bloc's emissions trading scheme have been closed since 19 January following the theft of 3.1 million EUAs after a series of attacks by cyber criminals.

The five registries that will reopen Friday "have given reasonable assurances that the minimum security requirements are in place", the commission said in a statement.

The bloc's executive expects several more reports from national registry authorities in the next few days, and the commission will continue to give advance notice 24 hours ahead when other registries come back online, the statement said.

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By Stian Reklev, Point Carbon

www.pointcarbon.com