Following its publication in the Official Journal of the EU on Saturday 28 October, the revised Community regulation on the security of natural gas supply will come into force on Wednesday 1 November.
The new rules go further than those of the previous regulation of 2010 by requiring EU member states to work together in regional groups (established on the basis of risk) to assess the potential for disruption to their gas supplies and agree on joint actions to prevent or mitigate the consequences.
A new solidarity principle will apply: any EU country facing an imminent gas shortage will be able to alert its neighbours to the expected crisis and trigger cross-border assistance to address it. By means of this solidarity mechanism applied in cases of extreme crisis, neighbouring countries will be called on to ensure the gas supply to households and essential social services in the country affected.
The new rules also include stricter monitoring of provisions in gas supply contracts. Gas companies will be required to officially notify national authorities about major long-term supply contracts (supplying at least 28% of the country’s annual consumption) that may be relevant to security of supply.
The Regulation also requires the European Network for Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) to perform an EU-wide gas supply and infrastructure disruption simulation in order to provide a high-level overview of major supply risks for the EU.
Lastly, the text imposes specific obligation on EU countries towards the Energy Community and sets out the powers conferred on the Commission to coordinate implementation of the legal framework between the EU and the Energy Community.
This regulation is based on a legislative proposal tabled by the Commission in February 2016 as part of its gas security package (see EUROPE 11491), amended by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament in the agreement reached in April of this year (see EUROPE 11776). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)