On Monday 9 October, the Council of the EU adopted a revised regulation on security of natural gas supplies. For the first time, the solidarity principle will apply whereby an EU member state facing imminent shortages of gas will be able to alert its neighbours of imminent gas supply crises and set in motion cross-border aid to deal with the situation.
The new regulation will come into force four days after publication in the EU Official Journal. It aims to minimise the impact of breakdowns in gas supply for EU member states, boosting their cooperation through a common and coordinated approach to national security of supply measures, based on a risk-based groups of states.
All member states in the same risk group will jointly draw up action plans for prevention, execute compulsory regional emergency plans and carry out regional risk assessments.
A compulsory solidarity mechanism will apply in extreme crisis scenarios, where neighbouring countries will be required to provide gas for households and essential local services.
The new rules also foresee greater control of gas supply contracts. Long-term gas contracts providing at least 28% of a member state’s annual gas consumption will have to be notified to the competent authority. For commercial agreements, only the details of the contract will need to be provided. For key contracts that could jeopardise a member state’s security of gas supply or security of supply for a region or the EU as a whole, the European Commission will be able to require companies to provide details of the contract.
Finally, the text foresees specific obligations on EU member states with regard to the Energy Community and powers conferred upon the European Commission for coordinating application of the legal framework between the EU and the Energy Community.
The Commission unveiled a draft regulation in February 2016 (see EUROPE 11491). The Council reached agreement with the European Parliament on 26 April 2017 (see EUROPE 11776) and the European Parliament endorsed the text on 12 September (see EUROPE 11860). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)