(2)

the following articles are inserted: ‘Article 6a Filling targets and filling trajectories 1. Subject to paragraphs 2 to 5, Member States shall meet the following filling targets for the aggregated capacity of all underground gas storage facilities that are located on their territory and directly interconnected to a market area in their territory and for storage facilities listed in Annex Ib by 1 November each year: (a) for 2022: 80 %; (b) from 2023: 90 %. For the purpose of complying with this paragraph, Member States shall take into account the objective of safeguarding the security of gas supply in the Union in accordance with Article 1. 2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 and without prejudice to the obligations of other Member States to fill the underground gas storage facilities concerned, the filling target for each Member State in which the underground gas storage facilities are located shall be reduced to a volume corresponding to 35 % of the average annual gas consumption over the preceding five years for that Member State. 3. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 and without prejudice to the obligations of other Member States to fill the underground gas storage facilities concerned, the filling target for each Member State in which the underground gas storage facilities are located shall be reduced by the volume which was supplied to third countries during the reference period 2016 to 2021 if the average volume supplied was more than 15 TWh per year during the gas storage withdrawal period (October – April). 4. For the underground gas storage facilities listed in Annex Ib, the filling targets pursuant to paragraph 1 and the filling trajectories pursuant to paragraph 7 shall apply. The details of the obligations of each Member State will be determined in a bilateral agreement in accordance with Annex Ib. 5. A Member State may partially meet the filling target by counting the LNG physically stored and available in its LNG facilities if both of the following conditions are met: (a) the gas system includes significant capacity of LNG storage, accounting annually for more than 4 % of the average national consumption over the preceding five years; (b) the Member State has imposed an obligation on gas suppliers to store minimum volumes of gas in underground gas storage facilities and/or LNG facilities in accordance with Article 6b(1), point (a). 6. Member States shall take the necessary measures to meet the intermediate targets or to ensure that they are met as follows: (a) for 2022: as set out in Annex Ia; and (b) from 2023: in accordance with paragraph 7. 7. For 2023 and the following years, each Member State with underground gas storage facilities shall submit to the Commission, by 15 September of the previous year, a draft filling trajectory with intermediary targets for February, May, July and September, including technical information, for the underground gas storage facilities on its territory and directly interconnected to its market area in an aggregated form. The filling trajectory and the intermediate targets shall be based on the average filling rate during the preceding five years. For Member States for which the filling target is reduced to 35 % of their average annual gas consumption pursuant to paragraph 2, the intermediate targets of the filling trajectory shall be reduced accordingly. Based on the technical information provided by each Member State and taking into account the assessment of the GCG, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts setting the filling trajectory for each Member State. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18a(2). They shall be adopted by 15 November of the preceding year, where necessary and including where a Member State has submitted an updated draft filling trajectory. They shall be based on an assessment of the general security of gas supply situation and the development of gas demand and supply in the Union and individual Member States, and set in a manner that safeguards the security of gas supply, while avoiding unnecessary burdens on Member States, gas market participants, storage system operators or customers and not unduly distorting competition between storage facilities located in neighbouring Member States. 8. Where, in any given year, a Member State is not able to meet its filling target by 1 November due to the specific technical characteristics of one or more underground gas storage facilities within its territory, such as exceptionally low injection rates, it shall be allowed to meet it by 1 December. The Member State shall inform the Commission by 1 November, providing reasons for the delay. 9. The filling target shall not apply where and for as long as the Commission has declared a regional or Union emergency pursuant to Article 12 at the request, as the case may be, of one or more Member States that have declared a national emergency. 10. The competent authority of each Member State shall continuously monitor compliance with the filling trajectory and shall report regularly to the GCG. If the filling level of a given Member State is more than five percentage points below the level of the filling trajectory, the competent authority shall, without delay, take effective measures to increase it. Member States shall inform the Commission and the GCG of the measures taken. 11. In the event of a substantial and sustained deviation by a Member State from the filling trajectory, which compromises the meeting of the filling target or in the event of a deviation from the filling target, the Commission shall, after consulting the GCG and the Member States concerned, issue a recommendation to that Member State or to the other Member States concerned regarding measures to be taken immediately. Where the deviation is not significantly reduced within one month of receipt of the Commission’s recommendation, the Commission shall, after consulting the GCG and the Member State concerned, take a decision as a measure of last resort to require the Member State concerned to take measures that effectively remedy the deviation, including, where appropriate, one or more of the measures provided for in Article 6b(1), or any other measure to ensure that the filling target pursuant to this Article is met. In deciding which measures to take pursuant to the second subparagraph, the Commission shall take into account the specific situation of the Member States concerned, such as the size of the underground gas storage facilities in relation to the domestic gas consumption, the importance of the underground gas storage facilities for the security of gas supply in the region and any existing LNG storage facilities. Any measures taken by the Commission to address deviations from the filling trajectory or the filling target for 2022 shall take into account the short timeframe for the implementation of this Article at national level, which may have contributed to the deviation from the filling trajectory or the filling target for 2022. The Commission shall ensure that the measures taken pursuant to this paragraph do not: (a) go beyond what is necessary to safeguard the security of gas supply; (b) place a disproportionate burden on Member States, gas market participants, storage system operators or customers. Article 6b Implementation of filling targets 1. Member States shall take all necessary measures, including providing for financial incentives or compensation to market participants, to meet the filling targets set pursuant to Article 6a. When ensuring that the filling targets are met, Member States shall prioritise, where possible, market-based measures. To the extent that any of the measures provided for in this Article are duties and powers of the national regulatory authority pursuant to Article 41 of Directive 2009/73/EC, the national regulatory authorities shall be responsible for taking those measures. Measures taken pursuant to this paragraph may, in particular, include: (a) requiring gas suppliers to store minimum volumes of gas in storage facilities, including in underground gas storage facilities and/or in LNG storage facilities, those volumes to be determined on the basis of the amount of gas supplied by gas suppliers to protected customers; (b) requiring storage system operators to tender their capacities to market participants; (c) requiring transmission system operators or entities designated by the Member State to purchase and manage balancing stock exclusively for carrying out their functions as transmission system operators and, where necessary, imposing an obligation on other designated entities for the purpose of safeguarding the security of gas supply in the case of an emergency as referred to in Article 11(1), point (c); (d) using coordinated instruments, such as platforms for the purchase of LNG, with other Member States to maximise the utilisation of LNG and to reduce infrastructure and regulatory barriers to the shared use of LNG to fill underground gas storage facilities; (e) using voluntary mechanisms for the joint procurement of natural gas, regarding the application of which the Commission may, if necessary, issue guidance by 1 August 2022; (f) providing financial incentives for market participants, including for storage system operators, such as contracts for difference, or providing compensation to market participants for the shortfall in revenues or for costs incurred by them as a result of obligations on market participants, including storage system operators which cannot be covered by revenue; (g) requiring storage capacity holders to use or release unused booked capacities, while still obliging the storage capacity holder not using the storage capacity to pay the agreed price for the whole term of the storage contract; (h) adopting effective instruments for the purchase and management of strategic storage by public or private entities, provided that such instruments do not distort competition or the proper functioning of the internal market; (i) appointing a dedicated entity tasked with meeting the filling target in the event that the filling target would not otherwise be met; (j) providing discounts on storage tariffs; (k) collecting the revenues needed to recover the capital and operational expenditures related to regulated storage facilities as storage tariffs and as a dedicated charge incorporated into transmission tariffs collected only from exit points to final customers located within the same Member States, provided that revenues collected through tariffs are not larger than the allowed revenues. 2. The measures taken by the Member States pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be limited to what is necessary to meet the filling trajectories and filling targets. They shall be clearly defined, transparent, proportionate, non-discriminatory and verifiable. They shall not unduly distort competition or the proper functioning of the internal market in gas or endanger the security of gas supply of other Member States or of the Union. 3. Member States shall take all necessary measures to ensure the use of the existing infrastructure at national and regional level for the benefit of the security of gas supply in an efficient way. Those measures shall under no circumstances block or restrict the cross-border use of storage facilities or LNG facilities and shall not limit cross-border transmission capacities allocated in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/459 (*1). 4. When taking measures pursuant to this Article, Member States shall apply the energy efficiency first principle, while still achieving the objectives of their respective measures, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*2). Article 6c Storage arrangements and burden-sharing mechanism 1. A Member State without underground gas storage facilities shall ensure that market participants within that Member State have in place arrangements with underground storage system operators or other market participants in Member States with underground gas storage facilities. Those arrangements shall provide for the use, by 1 November, of storage volumes corresponding to at least 15 % of the average annual gas consumption over the preceding five years of the Member State without underground gas storage facilities. However, where cross-border transmission capacity or other technical limitations prevent a Member State without underground gas storage facilities from fully using 15 % of those storage volumes, that Member State shall store only those volumes that are technically possible. In the event that technical limitations do not allow a Member State to comply with the obligation laid down in the first subparagraph, and that Member State has in place an obligation to store other fuels to replace gas, the obligation laid down in the first subparagraph may exceptionally be met by an equivalent obligation to store fuels other than gas. The technical limitations and the equivalence of the measure shall be demonstrated by the Member State concerned. 2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, a Member State without underground gas storage facilities may develop a burden-sharing mechanism with one or more Member States with underground gas storage facilities (burden-sharing mechanism). The burden-sharing mechanism shall be based on the relevant data from the latest risk assessment pursuant to Article 7 and shall take into account all of the following parameters: (a) the cost of financial support for meeting the filling target, exclusive of the costs of meeting any strategic storage obligations; (b) the gas volumes needed to meet the demand of protected customers in accordance with Article 6(1); (c) any technical limitations, including the available underground storage capacity, technical cross-border transmission capacity and withdrawal rates. Member States shall notify the burden-sharing mechanism to the Commission by 2 September 2022. In the absence of an agreement on a burden sharing mechanism by that date, Member States without underground gas storage facilities shall demonstrate that they comply with paragraph 1 and shall notify the Commission accordingly. 3. As a transitional measure, Member States without underground gas storage facilities, but which have underground gas storage facilities included in the last list of projects of common interest referred to in Regulation (EU) 2022/869 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*3) may partially comply with paragraph 1 by counting LNG stocks in existing floating storage units, until their underground gas storage facilities are in operation. 4. Member States without underground gas storage facilities may provide incentives or financial compensation to market participants or transmission system operators, as relevant, for the shortfall in revenues, or for costs incurred by them, as a result of their compliance with their storage obligations pursuant to this Article, where such a shortfall or such costs cannot be covered by revenue, in order to ensure compliance with their obligation to store gas in other Member States pursuant to paragraph 1 or the implementation of the burden-sharing mechanism. If the incentive or financial compensation is financed through a levy, that levy shall not be applied to cross-border interconnection points. 5. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, where a Member State has underground gas storage facilities located on its territory and the aggregated capacity of those facilities is larger than the annual gas consumption of that Member State, the Member States without underground gas storage facilities that have access to those facilities shall either: (a) ensure that by 1 November storage volumes correspond at least to the average usage of the storage capacity over the preceding five years, determined, inter alia, by taking into account the flows during withdrawal season over the preceding five years from the Member States where the storage facilities are located; or (b) demonstrate that storage capacity equivalent to the volume covered by the obligation under point (a) has been booked. If the Member State without underground gas storage facilities can demonstrate that storage capacity equivalent to the volume covered by the obligation under point (a) of the first subparagraph has been booked, paragraph 1 shall apply. The obligation under this paragraph shall be limited to 15 % of the average annual gas consumption over the preceding five years in the Member State concerned. 6. Unless otherwise specified in Annex Ib, in the case of underground gas storage facilities located in one Member State that are not covered by paragraph 5 but that are directly connected to the market area of another Member State, that other Member State shall ensure that by 1 November storage volumes correspond to at least the average of the storage capacity booked at the relevant cross-border point over the preceding five years. Article 6d Monitoring and enforcement 1. Storage system operators shall report the filling level to the competent authority in each Member State where the underground gas storage facilities concerned are located and, if applicable, to an entity designated by that Member State (the “designated entity”) as follows: (a) for 2022: on each of the intermediate targets set out in Annex Ia; and (b) from 2023: as set pursuant to Article 6a(4). 2. The competent authority and, if applicable, the designated entity of each Member State shall monitor the filling levels of the underground gas storage facilities on their territory at the end of each month and report the results to the Commission without undue delay. The Commission may, where appropriate, invite the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) to assist with such monitoring. 3. Based on the information provided by the competent authority and, if applicable, the designated entity of each Member State, the Commission shall report regularly to the GCG. 4. The GCG shall assist the Commission in the monitoring of the filling trajectories and the filling targets, and shall develop guidance for the Commission on adequate measures to ensure compliance in the event that Member States deviate from the filling trajectories or do not meet the filling targets. 5. Member States shall take the necessary measures to meet the filling trajectories and the filling targets and to enforce upon market participants the storage obligations which are required to meet them, including by imposing sufficiently deterrent sanctions and fines on those market participants. Member States shall inform the Commission without delay of the enforcement measures taken pursuant to this paragraph. 6. Where commercially sensitive information is to be exchanged, the Commission may convene meetings of the GCG that are restricted to itself and Member States. 7. Any information exchanged shall be limited to that which is necessary for the purpose of monitoring compliance with this Regulation. The Commission, the national regulatory authorities and the Member States shall preserve the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information received for the purposes of carrying out their obligations. (*1) Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/459 of 16 March 2017 establishing a network code on capacity allocation mechanisms in gas transmission systems and repealing Regulation (EU) No 984/2013 (OJ L 72, 17.3.2017, p. 1)." (*2) Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action, amending Regulations (EC) No 663/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directives 94/22/EC, 98/70/EC, 2009/31/EC, 2009/73/EC, 2010/31/EU, 2012/27/EU and 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives 2009/119/EC and (EU) 2015/652 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 328, 21.12.2018, p. 1)." (*3) Regulation (EU) 2022/869 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2022 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure, amending Regulations (EC) No 715/2009, (EU) 2019/942 and (EU) 2019/943 and Directives 2009/73/EC and (EU) 2019/944, and repealing Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 (OJ L 152, 3.6.2022, p. 45).’;"