Information;Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2024:648
Date: 2024-09-25
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Third Chamber, Extended Composition
Subject matter: Energy
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Action for annulment - successful;Action for annulment - inadmissible
Origin: France

Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber, Extended Composition) of 25 September 2024 – RTE v ACER (Case T‑472/21) (1) ( Energy – Internal market for electricity – Capacity calculation region – Core region – Adoption by ACER of the methodology for cost sharing of redispatching and countertrading – Determination of the threshold for legitimate loop flows – Article 16(13) of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 ) 1. Action for annulment – Natural or legal persons – Admissibility criteria – Decision of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) adopting a methodology for sharing the costs of remedial actions to relieve congestion on the electricity transmission system – Act establishing ACER providing for an internal remedy against the decision of ACER – Action for annulment brought against the decision of ACER without exhausting the internal remedy – Inadmissibility (Art. 263, fifth para., TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation 2019/942, recital 34 and Arts 28(1) and 29) (see paragraphs 21-23) 2. Energy – Internal market for electricity – Regulation 2019/943 – Management of congestion on the electricity transmission system – Implementation of remedial actions intended to relieve congestion between zones – Methodology for sharing the costs of remedial actions – Account taken of remedial actions on internal network elements with a voltage level higher than or equal to 220 kV – Whether permissible (European Parliament and Council Regulation 2019/943, recitals 2 and 35 and Arts 1(a), 2, point 3, and 16(4), (8), first subpara., point (b), and (13); Commission Regulations 2015/1222, recitals 2 and 12 and Arts 9(11) and 74(2) and (4)(b), and 2017/1485, Art. 76(1)(b)(iii) and (v)) (see paragraphs 58-120, 126-140) 3. EU agencies – Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) – Powers – Scope – Adoption of a methodology for sharing the costs of remedial actions to relieve congestion on the electricity transmission system – Precise delineation of ACER’s powers on the basis of objective criteria amenable to judicial review – Whether permissible (European Parliament and Council Regulations 2019/942, Arts 5(3), 6, 28 and 29, and 2019/943, Art. 16(13); Commission Regulation 2015/1222, Arts 9(11) and 74) (see paragraphs 121-124) 4. Energy – Internal market for electricity – Regulation 2019/943 – Management of congestion on the electricity transmission system – Implementation of remedial actions intended to relieve congestion between zones – Methodology for sharing the costs of remedial actions – Exclusion of costs induced by loop flows that do not exceed a certain threshold – Determination by the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) of a threshold in a way that does not comply with the applicable legal framework – Not permissible – Exception – Implicit competence of ACER to determine a threshold in a way that does not comply with the applicable legal framework – Conditions – Conditions not fulfilled (Art. 4(3) TEU; European Parliament and Council Regulations 2019/942, Art. 6(10), second subpara., point (a), (11) and (12), and 2019/943, recital 34 and Art. 16(13); Commission Regulation 2015/1222, Arts 9(11) and 74(6)(a)) (see paragraphs 150-215, 219-225, 232-245) 5. Action for annulment – Judgment annulling a measure – Effects – Limitation by the EU judicature – Conditions (Art. 264, second para., TFEU) (see paragraphs 250, 253-257) Operative part The Court: 1. Annuls the decision of the Board of Appeal of the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) of 28 May 2021 in Case A-001-2021 (consolidated), in so far as it confirms ACER Decision No 30/2020 of 30 November 2020 on the proposal of the electricity transmission system operators of the ‘Core’ capacity calculation region, comprising Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Croatia, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia, for the methodology for cost sharing of redispatching and countertrading, and dismisses the applicant’s appeal in that case; 2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder; 3. Orders ACER to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the Réseau de transport d’électricité (RTE); 4. Orders the French Republic to bear its own costs. 1 OJ C 382, 20.9.2021.