Revisions to the monitoring plan
Revisions to a monitoring plan are permitted in order to improve the accuracy and completeness of the information collected:
Revisions, if any, to the monitoring plan to improve its accuracy and/or completeness of information shall be justified by project participants and shall be submitted for validation to a designated operational entity (4/CMP.1, Annex II, paragraph 36).
Rules relating to the revision of the monitoring plan are set out in the Procedures for revising monitoring plans in accordance with paragraph 57 of the modalities and procedures for the CDM (version 2) (EB 49, Annex 28). Although these rules are not expressly stated to apply to small-scale projects, there are no parallel procedures for small-scale projects and it can therefore be assumed that these procedures apply equally to them.
These procedures state that if the monitoring plan is not in accordance with the monitoring methodology being used by a project, then revisions must be made to the monitoring plan:
If a DOE during verification finds that the monitoring plan is not in accordance with the monitoring methodology applied to the registered project activity and/or does not reflect the actual monitoring activity based on the registered PDD, the DOE shall request a revision of the monitoring plan (EB 49, Annex 28, paragraph 3).
However, any revisions to the monitoring plan must be approved by the Chair of the Executive Board in consultation with the Chair of the relevant panel or working groups:
Project participants may only apply a revised monitoring plan once it has been accepted by the Chair of Board in consultation with the Chair of relevant Panel or working groups in accordance with this procedure [sic] (EB 49, Annex 28, paragraph 5).
The procedure for submitting a revised monitoring plan is as follows:
Prior to requesting issuance of CERs, the DOE may submit a request for revising monitoring plans, containing:
- Request for revision of monitoring plan form (F-CDM-REVMP);
- A Validation Opinion;
- Revised Monitoring Plan (in clean and track change versions); and
- Supplemental documentation (EB 49, Annex 28, para 6).
The DOE prepares a validation opinion including information on how the proposed revision of the monitoring plan ensures the level of accuracy and completeness in the monitoring and verification process is not reduced because of the revision, on how the revision is in accordance with the approved monitoring methodology applicable to the project activity, and on how the findings of any previous verification reports have been taken into account (EB 49, Annex 28, para 9).
Upon receiving the DOE's submission, the Secretariat conducts a completeness check, and the Registration and Issuance Team prepares an appraisal. However, this is not required where the request is made as a request for deviation, request for issuance, request for review and/or under review (EB 49, Annex 28, para 10).
The Secretariat prepares a summary and assessment of the request which is forwarded to the Chair of the Board and a relevant panel or working group (EB 49, Annex 28, para 11).
The Chair, in consultation with the Chair of the relevant panel or working groups, decides within five working days whether to approve the revised monitoring plan, to approve and make corrections, or to reject the revision. (EB 49, Annex 28, para 13).
Once a decision is made, the Secretariat informs the DOE (EB 49, Annex 28, para 17). Where a revised monitoring plan has been approved, this will be made publicly available with the validation opinion (EB 49, Annex 28, para 19).