Opinion of the Commission pursuant to Article 189B(2) of the EC Treaty on the European Parliament's second reading of the Council's Common position for a European Parliament and Council Directive concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas
Date: 1998-05-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: competition, energy policy, natural gas, security of supply, single market

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 05.05.1998 
COM(1998) 299 final - COD 385 

OPINION OF THE COMMISSION 

pursuant to the Article  189 b (2) of the EC-Treaty 

on the European Parliament's second reading of the Council's Common position for a 
European Parliament and Council directive concerning common rules for the internal market 
in natural gas 

EXPLANATORY MEMQRANPVM 

The  present  proposal  for  a Directive  is based  on  Article  57(2),  Article  66  and 
Article  100a  of the  EC  Treaty.  These  articles  require the procedure  of Article 
189b of the EC Treaty. 

The  Commission  presents  its  Opinion  on  the  second  reading  of the  European 
Parliament. 

I. 

STATE OF THE  PROCEDURE 

The Commission  presented to the Council  on 21  February  1992  a proposal  for 
a  Council  Directive  concerning  common  rules  for  the  internal  market  for 
natural gas (COM(91) 548 final SYN 385). 

The Economic and Social Committee gave its opinion on 27 January  1993. 

The  European  Parliament  gave  its  opinion  in  a first reading  on  17  November 
1993.  It proposed a number of amendments. 

The  Commission  presented  an  amended  proposal  for  a  European  Parliament 
and Council Directive on 7 December  1993 (COM(93)643 final - COD 385). 

The  Council  of  the  European  Union  adopted  a  common  position  on  12 
February  1998. 

The  Commission  accepted  the  common  position  on  12  February  1998 
(SEC(1998)  209 final COD 385),  and informed  the European  Parliament  of its 
opinion. 

The  European  Parliament  voted  on  the  second  reading  on  30  April  1998, 
adopting  a  favourable  resolution  which  included  no  amendments  to  the 
common position. 

II 

OBJECT 

The  present  proposal  for  a  Directive  concerns  the  transmission,  distribution, 
supply  and  storage  of  natural  gas.  It  aims  at  ensuring  the  introduction  of 
competition  to  the natural  gas  sector,  creating  more  efficiency,  ensuring  more 
transparency,  strengthening  security  of  supply  and providing  equal  access  for 
all eligible customers to this sector.  The proposal is part of the second phase  of 
the  effort  of the  Commission  to  establish  the  internal  gas  market  and  as  such 
represents an important phase towards the creation  of a true internal  market in 
the  natural  gas  sector.  It  may be  followed  by  further  measures  improving  the 
internal market in natural gas. 

IH 

THE  COMMISSION'S  OPINION  ON  THE  EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT'S 
SECOND  READING 

The Commission welcomes the fact that the European  Parliament did not  adopt 
any amendments on the  common  position  of the  Council  in its  second  reading 
of 30 April  1998. 

The  Commission  invites  the  Council  to  definitively  adopt  the  Directive  in 
question in accordance with the common position. 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(98) 299 final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

12  10  15  02 

Catalogue number  :  CB-CO-98-299-EN-C 

ISBN 92-78-35932-7 

Office  for Official  Publications of the European  Communities 

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