1995D0539 — EN — 23.04.1998 — 001.001 — 1
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►B COMMISSIONDECISION
of8December 1995
settingupacommittee ofexpertsonthetransitofnaturalgasthroughgrids
(TextwithEEArelevance)
(95/539/EC)
(OJ L 304, 16.12.1995, p. 57)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1CommissionDecisionof 23 April 1998 (98/285/EC) L 128 70 30.4.1998
▼B
COMMISSIONDECISION
of8December 1995
setting up a committee of experts on the transit of natural gas
throughgrids
(TextwithEEArelevance)
(95/539/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Whereas, in the context of the completion of the internal energy
market, the Commission has the objective of facilitating energy trans-
fers by promoting the transit of natural gas within the meaning of
Article 2 of Council Directive 91/296/EEC of 31 May 1991 on thetransit of natural gas through grids(
1);
Whereas, to this end, it is desirable for the Commission to be advised
by a body of experts on matters relating to the smooth functioning oftransit and related economic, technical, legal and social factors;
Whereas the Member States' gas industries should be represented
withinthat body; whereas provisionshould also be made for the parti-
cipation of particularly qualified persons capable of providing specific
knowledge in the field of natural gas transit;
Whereas it would be appropriate for the Committee to act as the conci-
liationbody provided for inArticle 3 (4) of Directive 91/296/EEC;
Whereas, for the sake of the efficiency of the conciliation procedure,
the Committee of experts should meet inan ad hoccompositionto
consider any request for conciliation,
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
The Committee of Experts onthe Tran sit of Natural Gas through grids,
hereinafter referred to as ‘the Committee’, is hereby set up under theauspices of the Commission.
Article 2
Responsibilities
The tasks of the Committee shall be:
— to advise the Commission, at the latter's request, and
— to propose conciliation compromises, at the request of the nego-
tiating parties, in the event of specific requests for transit.
Article 3
Provisionofadvice
As part of its role of providing advice, the Committee:
(a) will examine more specifically:
— the technical, financial and legal conditions of transit, taking
into account economic and social factors,
— the possibilities of cooperation on transit with entities in the
Community, operating grids not interconnected as yet or notfiguring on the list annexed to Directive 91/296/EEC and the
improvement of the trans-European networks,
— the possibilities of cooperation on transit with entities in non
Member States.1995D0539 — EN — 23.04.1998 — 001.001 — 2
(1) OJ No L 147, 12. 6. 1991, p. 37.
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(b) shall assist the Commission in connection with:
— the drafting of an annual report on the implementation of Direc-
tive 91/296/EEC,
— the revision of the Annex to Directive 91/296/EEC.
Article 4
Composition
1. The Committee shall comprise 20 members, namely:
— fifteen representatives of the high-pressure natural gas transmission
grids operating in the Community (one representative per MemberState),
— three independent experts whose professional experience and
competence in the field of natural gas transit in the Community
are widely recognized,
— one representative of Eurogas,— one Commission representative.
2. The members of the Committee shall be appointed by the
Commission. The fifteen representatives of the transmission grids andthe representative of Eurogas being appointed after consultation of thecircle concerned from a list containing at least two proposals for each
post.
Article 5
Publication
The list of members shall be published by the Commissioninthe Offi-
cial Journal of the European Communities for information.
Article 6
Termofoffice
1. The term of office of members of the Committee shall be four
years.
2. Their term of office shall be renewable once.
4. Onexpiry of their term of office, the members of the Committee
shall remaininoffice un til they are replaced.
5. Where the term of office of a member ends before the expiry of
the period established by paragraph 1 or 3, as a result of his resignationor death or for any other reason, he shall be replaced for the remainder
of his term of office inaccordan ce with Article 4 (2).
6. The Commission may bring to an end the term of office of a
member, and in case of the representatives of the gas industries andthe representatives of Eurogas, after consulting the circles concernedreferred to in Article 4 (2) and to replace him in accordance with that
provision.
7. The office of member of the Committee shall be unpaid.
Article 7
Operation
1. The Committee shall be chaired by the Commissionrepresen ta-
tive.
2. Representatives of the Commission departments concerned shall
attend meetings of the Committee as observers.
3. Secretariat services for the Committee shall be provided by the
Commissiondepartmen ts.1995D0539 — EN — 23.04.1998 — 001.001 — 3
▼M1
▼B
▼B
4. The Chairman may invite any person with particular competence
in respect of an item included on the agenda to take part in the delib-erations as an expert. Experts shall take part in the deliberations only
for the item for which they have been invited to attend.
5. The deliberations of the Committee concerning requests by the
Commission for its opinion, referred to in Article 3, shall not be thesubject of a vote.
6. The Committee shall meet, at least once a year, at the premises of
the Commissionuponthe con vocationof the latter.
Article 8
Conciliation
1. Only the parties to a dispute relating to a specific request for
transit may refer a matter to the Committee.
2. The Committee shall meet inanad hoc compositionto con sider
any request for conciliation.
3. The Committee inits con ciliationcompositionshall comprise the
Chairmanan d six members chosenfrom the members of the
Committee:
— the Eurogas representative,
— two experts chosen by and from among the three experts who are
members of the Committee,
— three representatives of the high-pressure natural gas transmission
grids not involved in the negotiations relating to the specific request
for transit on which conciliation has been requested, chosen by and
from among the fifteen representatives of the transmission gridswho are members of the Committee.
The Chairmanshall n ot vote.4. Any conciliation request must be acted upon.5. The Committee inits con ciliationcompositionshall formulate its
conciliation compromise proposal not later than two and half monthsafter the date onwhich the request for con ciliationwas submitted.The Chairman may decide, if necessary, a prolongation of no more
than one month of the abovementioned period. The Committee in its
conciliation composition shall designate a rapporteur from among itsmembers.
6. The representatives of the transmission grids involved in the
negotiations on a specific request for transit on which conciliation hasbeen requested shall be invited to present their points of view.
7. After discussion by the Committee in its conciliation composition,
the rapporteur shall formulate a conciliation compromise on which
there is likely to be a consensus among the five other members of the
Committee. In the event of disagreement, the rapporteur shall formulatea conciliation compromise on which there is agreement among amajority of the five other members. In that event, the opinions of theminority members shall be put on record.
8. The Chairmanshall submit the con ciliationcompromise to the
parties, accompanied by any minority opinions, within three months
of the date onwhich the request for con ciliationby the Committee
was submitted.
9. The outcome of the conciliation procedure shall not have binding
force. The above procedure and the outcome of any conciliation of anycompromise shall be at any time without prejudice to application ofCommunity Law, including in particular, the competition rules.
10. Representatives of Member States concerned by a request for
transit may take part in the conciliation procedure as observer.1995D0539 — EN — 23.04.1998 — 001.001 — 4
▼B
Article 9
Confidentiality
Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 214 of the Treaty,
members of the Committee and, where appropriate, the experts referred
to in Article 7 (4), shall be required not to disclose commercial infor-
mationbrought to their kn owledge through the work of the Committee,where the Commission informs them that the opinion requested or thequestion raised relates to a confidential matter.
Article 10
Effect
This Decisionshall take effect sevendays followin g its publicationin
theOfficial Journal of the European Communities .1995D0539 — EN — 23.04.1998 — 001.001 — 5