ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the broad discretion available at the Expert Review Team level to report questions of implementation to the Compliance Committee. The Kyoto Protocol's Compliance Committee is to 'facilitate, promote and enforce compliance with the commitments' of states under the Protocol. The Committee is constituted of a Facilitative Branch, an Enforcement Branch, and a Bureau. The Enforcement Branch's some cases to date, the majority involved problems of institutional design that were soon repaired. Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, the Ukraine, and Lithuania were criticized for aspects of their national system; whereas in a case involving Canada, the national registry was at fault. The Facilitative Branch is to provide 'advice and facilitation' to the Kyoto Protocol parties in their implementation of the treaty's provisions. The evidence strongly suggests that states wish to comply with their accountable reporting obligations under the Kyoto Protocol because they reflect what international law requires and not solely for their own economic benefit.
