[ParlTrack]

Proposal for a directive – amending act
Recital 7 a (new)

(7a) Any system to be implemented should be effective in removing any conflict of interests between producers and transmission system operators, and should not create an onerous and cumbersome regulatory regime for national regulatory authorities that would be difficult and expensive to implement.

2008/04/07
Committee: ITRE

Britta THOMSEN

Proposal for a directive – amending act
Recital 21 a (new)

(21a) Member States should consider with the social partners concerned the implications of the amendments to the Directive 2003/55/EC in terms of the employment, working conditions and information, consultation and participation rights of workers, with a view to mitigating the negative consequences.

2008/04/07
Committee: ITRE

Britta THOMSEN

Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point –1 a (new)

Directive 2003/55/EC
Article 1 – paragraph 1

(–1a) In Article 1, paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following: "1. This Directive establishes common rules for the production, transmission, distribution and supply [...] of [...] gas with a view to creating integrated and competitive energy markets in the European Union. It lays down the rules relating to the organisation and functioning of the gas sector, access to the market, the criteria and procedures applicable to calls for tenders and the granting of authorisations [...] and the operation of networks. It also sets out universal service obligations and rights for gas consumers and clarifies competition obligations."

2008/04/07
Committee: ITRE

Britta THOMSEN

Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 1 e (new)

Directive 2003/55/EC
Article 3 – paragraph 5 a (new)

(1e) In Article 3, the following paragraph shall be inserted: "5a. The implementation of this Directive shall not have negative consequences for the employment, working conditions and information, consultation and participation rights of the workers concerned. Member States shall consult the social partners concerned on the implementation of any amendments to this Directive to mitigate negative consequences for the workers concerned. The Commission will report to the sectoral social dialogue committees for gas and for electricity on the consultations and measures taken." Or. en (Adding a new paragraph after paragraph 5 of Article 3 of Directive 2003/55/EC)

2008/04/07
Committee: ITRE

Britta THOMSEN

Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 6 a (new)

Directive 2003/55/EC
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point (d a) (new)

(6a) In Article 8(1), the following point shall be added: "(da) be responsible for collecting congestion rents and payments under the inter transmission system operator compensation mechanism in compliance with Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1228/2003, for granting and managing third party access and for giving substantiated explanations when access is denied, which shall be monitored by the national regulatory authorities; in carrying out their tasks under this Article, transmission system operators shall primarily consider the benefits of the region in which they operate."

2008/04/10
Committee: ITRE

Britta THOMSEN

Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 14

Directive 2003/55/EC
Article 24c – paragraph 1 – point (i a) (new)

"(ia) monitoring the occurrence of restrictive contractual practices, including exclusivity provisions, which may prevent or restrain the choice of non-household customers from contracting simultaneously with more than one supplier; where appropriate, the national regulatory authorities shall inform the national competition authorities of such practices;"

2008/03/31
Committee: ITRE

Britta THOMSEN

Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 14 a (new)

Directive 2003/55/EC
Article 24f a (new)

(14a) The following Article shall be inserted: "Article 24fa 1. Without prejudice to Article 24c(3)(b), national regulatory authorities may impose on system users which have been determined to dispose of significant market power as set out in Article 24h: (a) an obligations to ensure transparency in relation to the publication of specific information, such as accounting information, technical specifications, specific data of sales contracts, terms and conditions for the supply of and access to services, and prices; (b) if the system user discriminates among its contracting parties with respect to the same transactions, the national regulatory authority may impose an obligation to provide equal treatment, such as, in particular, to abolish any major contractual clause that is considered discriminatory, including prices, payment deadlines, discriminatory sales and purchase conditions and techniques and to exclude any contractual clause for rendering the conclusion of the contract conditional upon the undertaking of any commitment which, due to its nature or against the background of usual contractual practice, does not form part of the subject matter of the contract; (c) if the lack of effective competition means that the system user might maintain prices at an excessively low or high level, the national regulatory authority may impose obligations relating to temporary price controls, including obligations for prices to be related to costs and obligations concerning cost accounting and pricing systems. When imposing the obligation to employ cost- reflective pricing mechanisms, price control shall be based on the costs incurred by the system user in connection with generation and investments, including an appropriate return on such investments under normal business conditions. 2. The national regulatory authorities may prohibit system users with significant market power in the market referred to in Article 22h(1) and after having followed the procedures laid down in Article 22h: (a) from charging excessive prices to the competitors of related undertakings or of undertakings which form part of the vertically integrated undertaking as defined in Article 2; (b) from setting unduly low prices in comparison with the prices charged by efficient competitors; (c) from showing undue preference to specific consumers; or d) from unreasonably bundling services. 3. An appeal mechanism shall be provided which shall be without prejudice to the exercise of rights of appeal under Community and national law. Appeal shall not have a suspensory effect."

2008/03/31
Committee: ITRE

Britta THOMSEN

Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 14 b (new)

Directive 2003/55/EC
Article 24f b (new)

(14b) The following Article shall be inserted: "Article 24fb 1. In order to promote effective competition in the gas market, to avoid any abuse of a dominant position and to protect the interests of users, the national regulatory authorities shall conduct a market analysis in the market for wholesale customers, end customers and ancillary services in order to determine the degree of effective competition in the relevant market. 2. If competition in any of the identified markets is not effective meeting the aims set-out in Article 1, the national regulatory authorities shall analyse whether a system user enjoys a position equivalent to dominance, that is to say, a position of economic strength affording it the power to act to an appreciable extent independently of its competitors, customers and ultimately consumers. The national regulatory authorities shall publish the conclusions of their analysis on their official websites. 3. In the process of identifying system users with significant market power and without prejudice to Community law, the national regulatory authorities shall take into consideration: (a) the presence of a system user operator in the geographical area of a particular market and in the closely related markets, where the links between the two markets are such as to allow the market power held in one market to be leveraged into the other market, thereby strengthening the market power of the operator in question; (b) the size of the system user and its market share; (c) the scope of the activities of the system user and of the companies controlled by it and of the activities of the company controlling the system user, vertical integration and the unique characteristics of the identified markets in terms of links, product diversification, and the scope of goods and services offered in packages; (d) the existence of barriers to market entry, growth and expansion; (e) lack or low level of countervailing purchasing power; (f) lack of potential competition; (g) economies of scale and activity. 4. No later than 2 years of the entry into force of Directive .../.../EC [amending Directive 2003/55/EC concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas] and every 3 years from the previous review, the national regulatory authorities shall carry out a market analysis in relevant markets. Any system operator may request a market analysis at an earlier time if the conditions of competition in the relevant market have changed significantly since the last market analysis, and if the conclusions as referred to in paragraph 2 were published more than a year earlier. A refusal to carry out an additional market analysis shall be duly substantiated."

2008/03/31
Committee: ITRE

8 Amendments of Britta THOMSEN related to 2007/0196(COD)

ParlTrack - 2011-2024