Source: https://www.global-regulation.com/law/estonia/607889/natural-gas-act.html
Timestamp: 2017-11-22 23:56:54
Document Index: 191710334

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 27', '§ 28', '§ 29', '§ 30', '§ 301', '§ 31', '§ 32', '§ 42', '§ 47']

Natural Gas Act (Estonia)
Link to law: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/ee/Riigikogu/act/523012015009/consolide
01.01.2011, enters into force on the day determined by the decision of the Council of the European Union concerning repeal of the derogation established in respect of the Republic of Estonia on the basis of Article 140 (2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Decision No. 2010/416/EU of the Council of the European Union (OJ L 196, 28.07.2010, pp. 24–26).
01.01.2014, amended date of entry into force to 01.07.2014 [RT I, 22.12.2013]
08.07.2012, partially 01.11.2012, 01.01.2013, 01.01.2014, 01.01.2015
10.04.2014, partially 01.01.2015
5) licensed territory is the area, defined in a network operator’s authorisation, in which the network operator operates;
(1) The gas undertaking shall ensure that customers are supplied with gas in compliance with this Act, the ancillary conditions of the authorisation and the relevant contracts.
(15) The minister responsible for the area may issue regulations specifying the extent and content of the exchange of information relating to balance responsibility.
(61) A system operator is entitled to purchase and sell balancing gas. An authorisation is not required for the import and sale of balancing gas.
(4) The minister responsible for the area shall establish the list of particulars to be included in applications for a derogation and in the corresponding decisions of the Competition Authority.
(2) A network operator may have several network areas which together constitute the licensed territory specified in the authorisation of the network operator.
(1) A network operator is obligated to ensure that any person who has a network connection is supplied with gas in accordance with this Act, the ancillary conditions of the authorisation and the contract entered into.
(16) The network operator is a provider of a service of general interest within the meaning of the General Part of the Economic Activities Code Act.
(12) The methodology for converting the metered amounts of gas into units of energy shall be established by the minister responsible for the area by a regulation.
§ 27. Authorisation obligation
(1) An undertaking is required to have an authorisation in the following areas of activity:
1) sale of gas;
(2) Any person who sells gas solely to its members, commercial lessees or tenants is not subject to the authorisation obligation provided that the sale of gas is not the principal activity of the person and that gas is sold only within a single immovable, or within the construction work which is a movable, together with the land necessary for servicing that construction work.
§ 28. Application for authorisation
(1) An application for authorisation is processed by the Competition Authority.
(2) In addition to the information required under the General Part of the Economic Activities Code Act, an application for authorisation is to set out the following information and to include the following documents as annexes:
2) in the case that the authorisation applied for concerns the import of gas through a network, a declaration from the system operator that, in view of the technical capacity of the system, the transmission and distribution of gas is permissible and does not jeopardise the security of supply;
3) layout plans and description of the networks located within the licensed territory, except in the case of the activities referred to under point 1 and point 4 of subsection 1 of section 27 of this Act.
§ 29. Subject of scrutiny of the authorisation
The undertaking shall be granted the authorisation provided:
2) it has the required economic and organisational prerequisites and conditions to engage in the activity in respect of which it seeks an authorisation;
(1) The Competition Authority shall initiate the procedure of assessment of compliance with established requirements of an undertaking which provides gas transmission services in respect of the person who has applied for an authorisation to provide gas transmission services.
(3) The person who has applied for an authorisation to provide gas transmission services shall inform the Competition Authority of every planned transaction which may give rise to the need to perform a new assessment of compliance of the undertaking with the requirements established in section 291 of this Act.
(5) The Competition Authority shall prepare a draft decision regarding the assessment of compliance with established requirements within four months as of receipt of application for authorisation or as of receipt of requested information and shall immediately transmit the draft decision together with the relevant information to the European Commission in order to obtain the opinion of the latter.
(1) If the owner of a transmission network or a system operator is controlled by a person or persons from third countries, and if such owner or operator applies for an authorisation to provide gas transmission services, the Competition Authority shall immediately notify this to the European Commission. The Competition Authority shall also immediately inform the European Commission of the circumstances which allow the person from a third country to acquire control of the transmission network or of the undertaking providing gas transmission services.
§ 30. Decision on issuing the authorisation
§ 301. Granting the authorisation to provide gas transmission services
(1) The authorisation to provide gas transmission services shall be granted to a person who owns the gas transmission network, who owns or operates metering systems on the national border, who complies with the requirements specified in sections 291 and 294 and fulfils the conditions specified in section 29 of this Act.
(2) The authorisation to provide gas transmission services may be granted to one network operator only.
(3) The decision in respect of issuing or refusing to issue the authorisation to provide gas transmission services shall be made within ten months as of receipt of the application specified in section 293(1) and of the information demonstrating compliance with the requirements established in this Act. Reasons must be provided for the decision.
(4) The Competition Authority shall inform the European Commission of the decision to grant an authorisation to provide gas transmission services and of appointing the holder of the authorisation as the system operator and shall publish the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union.
§ 31. Refusal to issue the authorisation
§ 32. Ancillary conditions of the authorisation
The authorisation shall set out the following ancillary conditions:
1) the requirements for the import of gas set by the system operator in accordance with the provisions of point 2 of subsection 2 of section 28 of this Act in consideration of the technical capacity and security of supply of the gas system;
(3) Under this Act, the Competition Authority is authorised to perform the following functions:
5) issue and revoke authorisations, establish and amend the conditions of authorisations, and monitor compliance with those conditions;
16) assess compliance with the requirements established in section 291 of this Act of the person who has applied for the authorisation to operate a gas transmission network, observing the provisions of sections 293 and 294 of this Act;
(32) At the reasoned request of the market participant, the Competition Authority discloses the information described in subsection 42 of section 8 of this Act to the extent that it does not include business secrets.
(3) The constitutive regulations governing the keeping of the register mentioned in paragraph 2 of Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No. 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (OJ L 36, 08.12.2011, pp 1-16) are to be enacted by regulation by the minister responsible for the area.
[RT I, 09.04.2014, 6 – entry into force 01.01.2015]
The Competition Authority is authorised to establish temporary prices for the transmission or distribution of gas for not longer than two months in situations where the transmission or distribution prices are not justified or the gas undertaking does not comply with the enforcement order issued by a law enforcement agency.
(1) In the case of failure to comply with the requirements provided in section 291 of this Act starting 1 January 2015, the Competition Authority addresses an enforcement order to the system operator or the person who controls the system operator to discontinue infringement of the requirements.
(2) In the case that the enforcement order referred to in subsection 1 of this section is not complied with, a penalty payment whose ceiling rate for a calendar year is 1.2 million euros but which may not exceed 10% of the annual sales of the last audited financial year may be imposed on the system operator or the person who controls the system operator.
(3) [Repealed – RTI, 29.06.2014, 1 – entry into force 01.07.2014]
(5) In the event of repeated failure to comply with the enforcement order, the Competition Authority is authorised to issue a decision which documents the repeated failure to comply with the enforcement order and which constitutes the basis for revocation of the authorisation of the undertaking.
(6) The decision referred to in subsection 5 of this section shall set out:
(7) [Repealed – RT I, 29.06.2014, 1 – entry into force 01.07.2014]
(8) [Repealed – RT I, 29.06.2014, 1 – entry into force 01.07.2014]
(1) In addition to applying the principles provided in section 3(1) of the Immovables Expropriation Act, the Competition Authority is authorised to call for:
1) expropriation of the assets of the holder of the authorisation that the holder uses for the activity specified in the authorisation, if the holder fails to perform the obligation to continue the activity;
2) expropriation of the assets of the holder of the authorisation that the holder uses for the activity specified in the authorisation, if the term of validity of the authorisation has expired or the authorisation has been revoked and if there is no guarantee that the activity based on those assets will continue in compliance with this Act, which may jeopardise the security of supply of the gas system;
3) expropriation of the network and any limited real right which makes it possible to use the network if the owner of the network does not perform the obligations provided in section 22 of this Act or if the network operator who is the owner or user of the network does not hold an authorisation which is in conformity with the requirements of this Act.
(3) The Competition Authority does not have the obligation set out in subsection 2 of this section in cases where performing the obligation may jeopardise security of supply.
(4) Expropriations shall be effected in accordance with the Immovables Expropriation Act.
§ 42. Failure to comply with the conditions of the authorisation
Failure by a legal person to comply with the ancillary conditions of its authorisation is punishable by a fine of up to 3,200 euros.
§ 47. Validity of market licence and authorisation
(3) An authorisation to provide gas transmission services which is issued before 8 July 2012 remains valid until the authorisation referred to in section 301(1) of this Act is issued or until 1 January 2015.
(1) At the latest by 1 January 2015, a system operator shall bring its activity into compliance with the requirements for system operators which enter into force on 1 January 2015 and according to which a system operator is the network operator who owns the transmission network, who owns or maintains metering systems on the national border and who holds the authorisation to provide gas transmission services as specified in section 301(1) of this Act.
1Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 2003/55/EC (OJ L 211, 14.08.2009, pp. 94-136). [RT I, 28.06.2012, 2 – entry into force 08.07.2012]