Commission Decision of 11 August 2011 establishing the composition and the operational provisions of the Gas Coordination Group and repealing Commission Decision 2006/791/EC  Text with EEA relevance

12.8.2011 EN Official Journal of the European Union C 236/10
COMMISSION DECISION
of 11 August 2011
establishing the composition and the operational provisions of the Gas Coordination Group and repealing Commission Decision 2006/791/EC
(Text with EEA relevance)
2011/C 236/09
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 994/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 concerning measures to safeguard security of natural gas supply and repealing Council Directive 2004/67/EC (1), and in particular Article 12 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Article 12 of Regulation (EU) No 994/2010 has established a Gas Coordination Group in order to facilitate the coordination of measures concerning security of gas supply. This Group should be composed of the Member States, in particular of their Competent Authorities, as well as the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas and representative bodies of the industry concerned and relevant customers.
(2) Security of gas supply is a shared responsibility of natural gas undertakings, Member States, and the Commission within their respective areas of activities and competence. Moreover, customers using gas for electricity generation or industrial purposes may also have an important role to play in security of gas supply through their ability to respond to a crisis with demand-side measures. Therefore, in order to ensure the best coordination of measures to be taken under Regulation (EU) No 994/2010, the representative bodies of the industry concerned and those of relevant customers should participate actively in the work of the Gas Coordination Group.
(3) The Commission should, in consultation with the Member States, decide on the composition of the Group, ensuring it is fully representative and that a three-level approach is respected which involves first the relevant natural gas undertakings and industry, then Member States at national or regional level, and then the Union.
(4) The following bodies of the industry concerned should be considered to be representative:
— the representative European association of the storage system operators in the sense of Article 2(10) of Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 2003/55/EC (2) and of LNG system operators in the sense of Article 2(12) of Directive 2009/73/EC,
— the European association of the gas supplying industry,
— the international association representing gas producers in Europe,
— the European association of gas traders.
(5) As for the relevant consumers, four main sectors consuming natural gas should be distinguished:
— the industrial sector,
— the power sector using gas as a fuel,
— the household sector,
— the district heating sector.
(6) The Gas Coordination Group should act as adviser to the Commission to facilitate the coordination of security of supply measures in the event of a Union or regional emergency. It is also the main body to be consulted by the Commission in the context of the establishment of the Preventive Action Plans and the Emergency Plans. The Gas Coordination Group should monitor the adequacy and appropriateness of measures to be taken under the Regulation (EU) No 994/2010 and exchange all information relevant for security of gas supply at national, regional and Union levels.
(7) Rules on disclosure of information by members of the group should be laid down.
(8) Personal data should be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (3).
(9) Decision 2006/791/EC should be repealed,