Brussels, 19/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 18 September, the European Commission decided to send a reasoned opinion to Poland for failure to fully implement the directive on common rules for the internal market in natural gas. It considers that Warsaw had not transposed a number of the provisions of the directive. At this stage in the procedure, the Commission has nonetheless decided to limit the scope of its reasoned opinion solely to Poland's failure to designate a storage system operator.. This is necessary to “ensure transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate treatment to all traders wishing to enter the Polish gas market”. The Commission has not for now taken a stance on the refusal of access to storage facilities, but will first wait for the outcome of the national investigation pending before the Polish Energy Regulatory Office (Urzad Regulacji Energetyki) on a request to derogate regarding third party access to the storage facilities. The Commission reserves the right to continue its proceedings after it has received the final assessment from the Polish authorities. (O.L./transl.jl)