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Highlights! The EU Commission releases new gas regulation

Feb 16, 2016

Specialised Training on the Regulation of Gas Markets

The new “Energy Security Package” released by the EU Commission introduces new important concepts and criteria for the regulation of European gas markets. Among other measures, the new “Security of Supply Regulation” includes some of the key recommendations given by FSR in a policy brief published in November last year on information transparency for Long-Term gas Contracts.

A new regulatory package, composed of two Proposals, two Communications and one Report, has been released by the EU Commission today.

The eagerly awaited “Energy Security Package” includes: the revised Regulation on Security of Gas Supply, a Proposal for an EU strategy on LNG and gas storage, a Proposal for an EU strategy on Heating and Cooling as well as a Decision and a report on Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs) with non-EU countries in the field of energy.

The FSR has closely followed the gas topics elaborated by the new regulatory package, with a particular focus on Security of Supply (see more on FSR Gas).

Particularly, a Policy Brief, published in November last year, on information transparency for Long-Term gas Contracts (LTCs), was met with praise at EU level and some of the key recommendations are included in the revised Regulation on Security of Supply released today. For instance: starting from the existing SoS Regulation to improve the regulatory framework on LTCs; appointing “Competent Authorities” and empowering them to collect data on LTCs; enlarging and strengthening role & powers of the Commission and the Competent Authorities on requiring information on such contracts; introducing the option for the EU Commission or the Competent Authorities to require and view specific LTCs in their full version.

Furthermore, in the course of the last few months, the Florence school of Regulation discussed about regulatory developments in the gas world and listened to the opinions of regulators, high-level politicians and academics (listen to our podcasts below).

The new EU legislative proposals keep with the “Energy Union” strategy announced in February last year and, in particular with the first pillar of the strategy, “Securing energy supply”. The new package aims indeed at “increasing [the] security of EU gas supply and transparency in IGAs, along with strategies to guarantee that all EU markets benefit from increased competition from gas suppliers, to obtain better access to gas storage and LNG and to promote energy saving and decarbonisation in heating and cooling buildings”.