# If an Indian law covers our project activity, is it still eligible on Verra?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-regulatory-surplus-india-systematically-enforced-law

It can be, if the law is not systematically enforced. For countries outside the high-income group, Verra's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) v5.0 asks you to show the activity is not mandated by a systematically enforced law, with authoritative, up-to-date evidence. A law that exists only on paper does not rule you out.

## What the rule says

- In a high-income country, the activity must not be mandated by any law or regulatory framework.
- In every other country, India included, it must not be mandated by a systematically enforced law or regulatory framework. You back that with authoritative, up-to-date information about the project activity.
- Laws that explicitly allow or build in the use of carbon credits do not have to be considered.

## When it is tested

At validation, at crediting period renewal and at a verification that includes a baseline reassessment. Not at every verification. Separately, the baseline must take account of government policies and legal requirements relevant to the activity, so a law can shape your baseline even when it does not rule you out.

## What counts as evidence

The standard asks for authoritative and up-to-date information and does not define systematically enforced in this section. So build a file the validation and verification body (VVB) can test:

- The text of the law or rule, with its date and what it requires of a unit your size.
- Whether the authority inspects, penalises or closes non-compliant units like yours, in your state, in recent years.
- How many comparable units already comply, from an official or industry source.
- A written note on why you conclude the activity is not mandated in practice.

## Where it goes wrong

- A rule is newly notified and enforcement starts after you registered. Expect the test again at renewal.
- You have only an opinion that the law is ignored. Opinion is not evidence.
- If the rule is enforced on plants like yours, a project that only meets the rule is not eligible.

## Example: a heat recovery rule

- Every furnace above a set size must fit heat recovery
- Your furnace is above that size, so the rule covers your activity
- Evidence: the state authority has issued no notice or penalty under it, and few of the units in your cluster have fitted heat recovery
- Conclusion for the file: on this evidence the rule is not systematically enforced, so the activity is not mandated
- If notices and closures were common, the same rule would end the project's eligibility

This is an example rule. It shows how the evidence is laid out. Your VVB judges your actual evidence.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps your dated fuel and power invoices, which show what the plant used before and after a change. It does not judge whether a law is enforced, and it does not register projects or issue credits; Verra and your VVB do.

- [Years of credits for an energy project](https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-v5-energy-crediting-period-45-years)
- [Offset rule for projects required by law](https://senseible.earth/answers/ccts-offset-regulatory-surplus-rule)
- [Carbon credits](https://senseible.earth/carbon-credits)

Sources: [Verra, VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025), sections 3.12.4 and 3.13.1](https://verra.org/documents/vcs-standard-v5-0/)

Last reviewed 2026-11-04. Section numbers are from VCS Standard v5.0; re-check them when Verra publishes a new version.