The Kyoto Protocol’s effectiveness depends upon two critical factors: whether Parties included in Annex I follow the Protocol’s rulebook and comply with their commitments; and whether the emissions data used to assess compliance are reliable.

Articles 5, 7 and 8 of the Kyoto Protocol address reporting and review of information by Parties included in Annex I, as well as national systems and methodologies for the preparation of greenhouse gas inventories.

• Article 5 commits Parties included in Annex I to having in place, no later than 2007, national systems for the estimation of greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks (Article 5, paragraph 1). It also states that, where agreed methodologies (that is, the revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, see decision 2/CP.3) are not used to estimate emissions and removals, appropriate "adjustments" should be applied (Article 5 paragraph 2);

• Article 7 requires these Parties to submit annual greenhouse gas inventories, as well as national communications, at regular intervals, both including supplementary information to demonstrate compliance with the Protocol. In addition, Article 7 states that the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (CMP) shall decide upon modalities for the accounting of assigned amounts prior to the first commitment period;

• Article 8 establishes that expert review teams will review the inventories, and national communications submitted by Parties included in Annex I.