Article 16 Cooperation with the Energy Community Contracting Parties
1. Where the Member States and the Energy Community Contracting Parties cooperate in the process of the establishment of risk assessments and preventive action plans and emergency plans, such cooperation may include, in particular, identifying the interaction and correlation of risks and consultations with a view to ensuring consistency of preventive action plans and emergency plans across the border. 2. With respect to paragraph 1, Energy Community Contracting Parties may participate in the GCG upon invitation by the Commission on all matters of mutual concern.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal a) Security of supply The potential threats to the security of gas supply of the EU, mainly linked to its dependence for primary energy from third countries, have already triggered preparations to deal with additional challenges. With the introduction of the European Green Deal in particular, up-grading and extending LNG infrastructure and the diversification of sources and routes of pipeline gas, it has already taken important steps to shield households and enterprises against supply shocks. The international tensions have underlined the need of advancing plans and actions with the objective to become more independent from third countries. Accelerating the green transition will reduce emissions, reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels, and protect against price hikes. However, the current geopolitical situation requires additional short term measures to deal with the market imbalances for energy and for securing supplies in the years ahead. As supply disruptions of pipeline gas may occur anytime, measures introducing an insurance policy regarding the filling level of EU storage facilities are introduced. Well-filled gas storage contributes to more secure gas supplies for the winter 2022/2023. b) Role of storage and current problems Gas storage contributes to security of supply by providing additional supply in case of strong demand or supply disruptions; storage supplies 25-30% of gas consumed in winter. During the heating season, storage reduces the need to import additional gas. Storage contributes to absorbing supply shocks. Over the last six months, an unbalanced gas market has led to a sharp increase in gas prices. The EU level of filling of storage during the winter was largely below the level of the preceding years – 10% less in percentage points in January. This has amplified uncertainties as regards security of supply and the volatility of prices. This proposal seeks to address the three more specific problems below: – The difference of gas prices between summer and winter is important to attract gas in storage. Given the ongoing geopolitical developments and high energy prices, an estimate of the foreseeable summer/winter spread is very unreliable. The situation is expected to be particularly problematic ahead of next winter, as prices may be higher in summer than in winter. This is expected to lead to a situation in which storage is not att ractive to market participants and filling needs to be ensured by public interventions, including financial support to incentivise the use of storage. – The Commission and the Gas Coordination Group carried out an EU wide reinforced risk preparedness analysis in February 2022. This analysis indicated that while the winter 2021/2022 was eventually safe, there could be risk of insufficient gas in storage ahead of the next winter 2022/2023. Optimi s ing the storage capacities over the filling season would require immediate injection as from the start of the filling season (April 2022). Such early actions would reduce the risks of bottlenecks when filling storage during possible disruptions from the East that would require to transport gas to storage sites from other routes. – Gas storage levels in 202 1 /202 2 have proven to be particularly low at sites owned by third country entities. This has contributed to nearly half of the unusually low storage level this year. Storage facilities are strategic assets and critical for the security of supply of the Union and its Member States. The control and use of storage facilities by third countries entities may create security of supply risks , impacting on other essential security interests, and undermine further the strategic autonomy of the EU. c) Objectives of the proposal This proposal aims at addressing the very significant risks for security of supply and the Union’s economy resulting from the dramatically changed geopolitical situation. The proposal aims notably at ensuring that storage capacities in the Union, which are crucial to ensure security of supply, do not remain unused, to ensure that storages can be shared across the Union, in a spirit of solidarity. For that purpose, a mandatory minimum level of gas in storage facilities will reinforce the security of supply ahead of the winter 2022/2023 and for the following winter periods. A mandatory certification of storage system operators will ensure that potential security of supply risks resulting from influence over the critical storage infrastructure can be excluded. Finally, the use of storage will be incentivised by allowing to exempt storage users from transmission tariffs at storage entry or exit points.
Revised version (Article 16 Cooperation with the Energy Community Contracting Parties):
1. Where the Member States and the Energy Community Contracting Parties cooperate in the process of the establishment of risk assessments and preventive action plans and emergency plans, such cooperation may include, in particular, identifying the interaction and correlation of risks and consultations with a view to ensuring consistency of preventive action plans and emergency plans across the border. 2. With respect to paragraph 1, Energy Community Contracting Parties may participate in the GCG upon invitation by the Commission on all matters of mutual concern. 3. Member States shall ensure storage obligations under this Regulation are met by using storage facilities in the Union. However, Member States and the Energy Community Contracting Parties’ cooperation may include voluntary arrangements to use storage capacity provided by Energy Community Contracting Parties to store additional volumes of gas for the Member States.
Article 17 Monitoring by the Commission
The Commission shall carry out continuous monitoring of security of gas supply measures and report regularly to the GCG. The Commission, on the basis of the assessments referred to in Article 8(7) shall, by 1 September 2023, draw conclusions as to possible means to enhance the security of gas supply at Union level and submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the application of this Regulation, including, where necessary, legislative proposals to amend this Regulation.
Article 18 Notifications
The risk assessment, the preventive action plans, the emergency plans and all other documents shall be notified to the Commission electronically through the CIRCABC platform. All correspondence in connection with a notification shall be transmitted electronically.
Article 19 Exercise of the delegation
1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article. 2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 3(8), Article 7(5) and Article 8(5) shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 1 November 2017. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period. 3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 3(8), Article 7(5) and Article 8(5) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force. 4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. 5. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. 6. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 3(8), Article 7(5) and Article 8(5) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.
Article 20 Derogation
This Regulation shall not apply to Malta and Cyprus for as long as no gas is supplied on their respective territories. For Malta and Cyprus the obligations laid down in, and the choices those Member States are entitled to make pursuant to, the following provisions shall be fulfilled and made within the specified time calculated from the date when gas is first supplied on their respective territories: (b) for Article 6(1): 18 months; (c) for Article 8(7): 24 months; (d) for Article 5(4): 36 months; (e) for Article 5(1): 48 months. In order to fulfil the obligation contained in Article 5(1), Malta and Cyprus may apply the provisions contained in Article 5(2), including by using non-market-based demand-side measures. 2. Obligations related to the work of the risk groups set out in Articles 7 and 8 with regard to the Southern Gas Corridor and Eastern Mediterranean risk groups shall start to apply from the date when the major infrastructure/pipeline enters the test operation. 3. For as long as Sweden has access to gas via interconnections exclusively from Denmark as its only source of gas and its only possible provider of solidarity, Denmark and Sweden shall be exempted from the obligation in Article 13(10) to conclude technical, legal and financial arrangements for the purpose of Sweden providing solidarity to Denmark. This shall not affect the obligation of Denmark to provide solidarity and to conclude the necessary technical, legal and financial arrangements to that effect pursuant to Article 13.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal a) Security of supply The potential threats to the security of gas supply of the EU, mainly linked to its dependence for primary energy from third countries, have already triggered preparations to deal with additional challenges. With the introduction of the European Green Deal in particular, up-grading and extending LNG infrastructure and the diversification of sources and routes of pipeline gas, it has already taken important steps to shield households and enterprises against supply shocks. The international tensions have underlined the need of advancing plans and actions with the objective to become more independent from third countries. Accelerating the green transition will reduce emissions, reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels, and protect against price hikes. However, the current geopolitical situation requires additional short term measures to deal with the market imbalances for energy and for securing supplies in the years ahead. As supply disruptions of pipeline gas may occur anytime, measures introducing an insurance policy regarding the filling level of EU storage facilities are introduced. Well-filled gas storage contributes to more secure gas supplies for the winter 2022/2023. b) Role of storage and current problems Gas storage contributes to security of supply by providing additional supply in case of strong demand or supply disruptions; storage supplies 25-30% of gas consumed in winter. During the heating season, storage reduces the need to import additional gas. Storage contributes to absorbing supply shocks. Over the last six months, an unbalanced gas market has led to a sharp increase in gas prices. The EU level of filling of storage during the winter was largely below the level of the preceding years – 10% less in percentage points in January. This has amplified uncertainties as regards security of supply and the volatility of prices. This proposal seeks to address the three more specific problems below: – The difference of gas prices between summer and winter is important to attract gas in storage. Given the ongoing geopolitical developments and high energy prices, an estimate of the foreseeable summer/winter spread is very unreliable. The situation is expected to be particularly problematic ahead of next winter, as prices may be higher in summer than in winter. This is expected to lead to a situation in which storage is not att ractive to market participants and filling needs to be ensured by public interventions, including financial support to incentivise the use of storage. – The Commission and the Gas Coordination Group carried out an EU wide reinforced risk preparedness analysis in February 2022. This analysis indicated that while the winter 2021/2022 was eventually safe, there could be risk of insufficient gas in storage ahead of the next winter 2022/2023. Optimi s ing the storage capacities over the filling season would require immediate injection as from the start of the filling season (April 2022). Such early actions would reduce the risks of bottlenecks when filling storage during possible disruptions from the East that would require to transport gas to storage sites from other routes. – Gas storage levels in 202 1 /202 2 have proven to be particularly low at sites owned by third country entities. This has contributed to nearly half of the unusually low storage level this year. Storage facilities are strategic assets and critical for the security of supply of the Union and its Member States. The control and use of storage facilities by third countries entities may create security of supply risks , impacting on other essential security interests, and undermine further the strategic autonomy of the EU. c) Objectives of the proposal This proposal aims at addressing the very significant risks for security of supply and the Union’s economy resulting from the dramatically changed geopolitical situation. The proposal aims notably at ensuring that storage capacities in the Union, which are crucial to ensure security of supply, do not remain unused, to ensure that storages can be shared across the Union, in a spirit of solidarity. For that purpose, a mandatory minimum level of gas in storage facilities will reinforce the security of supply ahead of the winter 2022/2023 and for the following winter periods. A mandatory certification of storage system operators will ensure that potential security of supply risks resulting from influence over the critical storage infrastructure can be excluded. Finally, the use of storage will be incentivised by allowing to exempt storage users from transmission tariffs at storage entry or exit points.
Revised version (Article 20 Derogation):
In order to fulfil the obligation contained in Article 5(1), Malta and Cyprus may apply the provisions contained in Article 5(2), including by using non-market-based demand-side measures. 2. Obligations related to the work of the risk groups set out in Articles 7 and 8 with regard to the Southern Gas Corridor and Eastern Mediterranean risk groups shall start to apply from the date when the major infrastructure/pipeline enters the test operation. 3. For as long as Sweden has access to gas via interconnections exclusively from Denmark as its only source of gas and its only possible provider of solidarity, Denmark and Sweden shall be exempted from the obligation in Article 13(10) to conclude technical, legal and financial arrangements for the purpose of Sweden providing solidarity to Denmark. This shall not affect the obligation of Denmark to provide solidarity and to conclude the necessary technical, legal and financial arrangements to that effect pursuant to Article 13. 4. Articles 6a to 6d shall not apply to Ireland, Cyprus or Malta for as long as they are not directly interconnected to the gas interconnected system of any other Member States.
Article 21 Repeal
Regulation (EU) No 994/2010 is repealed. References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex IX.
Article 22 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the fourth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . It shall apply from 1 November 2017. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal a) Security of supply The potential threats to the security of gas supply of the EU, mainly linked to its dependence for primary energy from third countries, have already triggered preparations to deal with additional challenges. With the introduction of the European Green Deal in particular, up-grading and extending LNG infrastructure and the diversification of sources and routes of pipeline gas, it has already taken important steps to shield households and enterprises against supply shocks. The international tensions have underlined the need of advancing plans and actions with the objective to become more independent from third countries. Accelerating the green transition will reduce emissions, reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels, and protect against price hikes. However, the current geopolitical situation requires additional short term measures to deal with the market imbalances for energy and for securing supplies in the years ahead. As supply disruptions of pipeline gas may occur anytime, measures introducing an insurance policy regarding the filling level of EU storage facilities are introduced. Well-filled gas storage contributes to more secure gas supplies for the winter 2022/2023. b) Role of storage and current problems Gas storage contributes to security of supply by providing additional supply in case of strong demand or supply disruptions; storage supplies 25-30% of gas consumed in winter. During the heating season, storage reduces the need to import additional gas. Storage contributes to absorbing supply shocks. Over the last six months, an unbalanced gas market has led to a sharp increase in gas prices. The EU level of filling of storage during the winter was largely below the level of the preceding years – 10% less in percentage points in January. This has amplified uncertainties as regards security of supply and the volatility of prices. This proposal seeks to address the three more specific problems below: – The difference of gas prices between summer and winter is important to attract gas in storage. Given the ongoing geopolitical developments and high energy prices, an estimate of the foreseeable summer/winter spread is very unreliable. The situation is expected to be particularly problematic ahead of next winter, as prices may be higher in summer than in winter. This is expected to lead to a situation in which storage is not att ractive to market participants and filling needs to be ensured by public interventions, including financial support to incentivise the use of storage. – The Commission and the Gas Coordination Group carried out an EU wide reinforced risk preparedness analysis in February 2022. This analysis indicated that while the winter 2021/2022 was eventually safe, there could be risk of insufficient gas in storage ahead of the next winter 2022/2023. Optimi s ing the storage capacities over the filling season would require immediate injection as from the start of the filling season (April 2022). Such early actions would reduce the risks of bottlenecks when filling storage during possible disruptions from the East that would require to transport gas to storage sites from other routes. – Gas storage levels in 202 1 /202 2 have proven to be particularly low at sites owned by third country entities. This has contributed to nearly half of the unusually low storage level this year. Storage facilities are strategic assets and critical for the security of supply of the Union and its Member States. The control and use of storage facilities by third countries entities may create security of supply risks , impacting on other essential security interests, and undermine further the strategic autonomy of the EU. c) Objectives of the proposal This proposal aims at addressing the very significant risks for security of supply and the Union’s economy resulting from the dramatically changed geopolitical situation. The proposal aims notably at ensuring that storage capacities in the Union, which are crucial to ensure security of supply, do not remain unused, to ensure that storages can be shared across the Union, in a spirit of solidarity. For that purpose, a mandatory minimum level of gas in storage facilities will reinforce the security of supply ahead of the winter 2022/2023 and for the following winter periods. A mandatory certification of storage system operators will ensure that potential security of supply risks resulting from influence over the critical storage infrastructure can be excluded. Finally, the use of storage will be incentivised by allowing to exempt storage users from transmission tariffs at storage entry or exit points.
Revised version (Article 22 Entry into force):
This Regulation shall enter into force on the fourth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . It shall apply from 1 November 2017.