On 1st November, a new regulation (EU) 2017/1938 from the European Parliament and the Council, concerning measures to safeguard the EU’s security of gas supply, entered into force. The Regulation aims at ensuring that all necessary measures are taken to safeguard an uninterrupted supply of gas throughout the Union.

The European Commission’s assessment of the short-term resilience of the European gas system (2014) revealed the vulnerability of several EU member states and the limits of purely national approaches to gas supply disruptions. The assessment points out that a more cooperative approach could significantly reduce the impact of gas supply disruptions. To best address the concerns observed by the European Commission, Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 builds on regional cooperation. EU countries are now required to work together in regional groups to assess the risk of gas supplies disruptions. Moreover, in case of emergency, countries must respond in a coordinated way (according to pre-agreed preventive action plans and emergency plans) so as to reduce the risk of negative spill-over effects.

The Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 also reflects the solidarity principle enshrined in Article 194 of the TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the EU). EU member states may, in exceptional circumstances, request the application of the solidarity principle. Under this regime, the requested member state is obliged to provide gas supply to protected customers in the requesting member state. Nonetheless, solidarity measures should be taken as a last resort.

Moreover, the Regulation imposes an obligation on gas companies to officially notify respective national authorities about their major long-term supply contracts relevant to the security of gas supply.

The gLAWcal Team