(Repeats Tuesday story to widen distribution) (Wraps stories, adds details) BRUSSELS, Dec 12 (Reuters) - France and Italy acted on Tuesday to avoid a rift with Brussels over their greenhouse gas emissions plans in the second period of the bloc's carbon market from 2008-12. Italy, one of the countries that is late with its plan, promised to submit it within days. France resubmitted a proposal containing tighter carbon caps for its industry than it had originally suggested in a lax plan it withdrew last month. The European Commission is taking a firm line with states' emissions plans, as some find difficulty in meeting their targets under the Kyoto Protocol against global warming. It is especially determined after overly lax targets were set in the first phase of the carbon trading scheme, covering 2005-07. The European carbon market is the bloc's key strategy to combat climate change. It sets heavy industry -- such as power companies, oil, gas and metals -- an overall cap on carbon emissions but allows businesses to trade rights to emit among themselves. Last month the Commission ruled that nine out of 10 plans submitted by member states were too generous in setting the caps, and it demanded further cuts. On Tuesday it issued final warnings to Austria, Denmark, Hungary and Italy, which have yet to submit their plans more than five months past the due date. This is the final legal step before taking them to the European Court of Justice, Europe's highest court. NO CHOICE BUT COURT "For the good functioning of the Emissions Trading Scheme we will have no choice but to take them to court if they do not send their allocation plans soon," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in a statement. Italy swiftly responded, saying its plan was delayed on a technical hitch and would be submitted within days. Meanwhile the Commission said it was also taking action against seven member states "for failing to provide complete reports on their progress in limiting or cutting greenhouse gas emissions". The states included France, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Luxembourg and Spain. The French environment ministry told Reuters it had submitted a new tougher quota, now some 133 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, appearing to reduce allowable emissions by around 10 percent. It also said it would no longer allow companies to transfer permits left over from the first phase for use in the second phase of the scheme. The European Commission declined to comment. Italy's economic development ministry has been ironing out the final details of its plan but had not changed the caps detailed in its latest plan, a spokesman said. The Commission also said it was taking Finland, Sweden and Portugal to the European Court of Justice for failing to ensure proper treatment of urban waste water in a significant number of towns and cities. (Reporting by Darren Ennis in Brussels, Jeff Mason in Strasbourg, Muriel Boselli in Paris and Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan)
