(a) You may average, bank, and trade emission credits for purposes of certification as described in this subpart and in subpart B of this part to show compliance with the standards of §§ 1037.105 and 1037.106. Note that § 1037.105(h) specifies standards involving limited or no use of emission credits under this subpart. Participation in this program is voluntary.

(b) The definitions of subpart I of this part apply to this subpart in addition to the following definitions:

(1) Actual emission credits means emission credits you have generated that we have verified by reviewing your final report.

(2) Averaging set means a set of vehicles in which emission credits may be exchanged. Note that an averaging set may comprise more than one regulatory subcategory. See § 1037.740.

(3) Broker means any entity that facilitates a trade of emission credits between a buyer and seller.

(4) Buyer means the entity that receives emission credits as a result of a trade.

(5) Reserved emission credits means emission credits you have generated that we have not yet verified by reviewing your final report.

(6) Seller means the entity that provides emission credits during a trade.

(7) Standard means the emission standard that applies under subpart B of this part for vehicles not participating in the ABT program of this subpart.

(8) Trade means to exchange emission credits, either as a buyer or seller.

(c) Emission credits may be exchanged only within an averaging set, except as specified in § 1037.740.

(d) You may not use emission credits generated under this subpart to offset any emissions that exceed an FEL or standard, except as allowed by § 1037.645.

(e) You may use either of the following approaches to retire or forego emission credits:

(1) You may trade emission credits generated from any number of your vehicles to the vehicle purchasers or other parties to retire the credits. Identify any such credits in the reports described in § 1037.730. Vehicles must comply with the applicable FELs even if you donate or sell the corresponding emission credits under this paragraph (e). Those credits may no longer be used by anyone to demonstrate compliance with any EPA emission standards.

(2) You may certify a family using an FEL below the emission standard as described in this part and choose not to generate emission credits for that family. If you do this, you do not need to calculate emission credits for those families and you do not need to submit or keep the associated records described in this subpart for that family.

(f) Emission credits may be used in the model year they are generated. Where we allow it, surplus emission credits may be banked for future model years. Surplus emission credits may sometimes be used for past model years, as described in § 1037.745. You may not apply banked or traded credits in a given model year until you have used all available credits through averaging to resolve credit balances for that model year.

(g) You may increase or decrease an FEL during the model year by amending your application for certification under § 1037.225. The new FEL may apply only to vehicles you have not already introduced into commerce.

(h) See § 1037.740 for special credit provisions that apply for credits generated under 40 CFR 86.1819-14(k)(7) or 1036.615 or § 1037.615.

(i) Unless the regulations in this part explicitly allow it, you may not calculate Phase 1 credits more than once for any emission reduction. For example, if you generate Phase 1 CO2 emission credits for a given hybrid vehicle under this part, no one may generate CO2 emission credits for the associated hybrid engine under 40 CFR part 1036. However, Phase 1 credits could be generated for identical engines used in vehicles that did not generate credits under this part.

(j) You may use emission credits generated under the Phase 1 standards when certifying vehicles to Phase 2 standards. No credit adjustments are required other than corrections for different useful lives.