Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2013 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure and repealing Decision No 1364/2006/EC and amending Regulations (EC) No 713/2009, (EC) No 714/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 (Text with EEA relevance)Text with EEA relevance

• Published date: 25 April 2013
• Subject Matter: energia,reti transeuropee,energía,redes transeuropeas,énergie,réseaux transeuropéens
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale dell’Unione europea, L 115, 25 aprile 2013,Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 115, 25 de abril de 2013,Journal officiel de l’Union européenne, L 115, 25 avril 2013

02013R0347 — EN — 04.07.2019 — 004.001

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►B REGULATION (EU) No 347/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 17 April 2013 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure and repealing Decision No 1364/2006/EC and amending Regulations (EC) No 713/2009, (EC) No 714/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 115 25.4.2013, p. 39)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
M1	COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) No 1391/2013 of 14 October 2013	L 349	28	21.12.2013
M2	COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2016/89 of 18 November 2015	L 19	1	27.1.2016
►M3	COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2018/540 of 23 November 2017	L 90	38	6.4.2018
►M4	REGULATION (EU) 2019/942 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 5 June 2019	L 158	22	14.6.2019

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▼B

REGULATION (EU) No 347/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 17 April 2013

on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure and repealing Decision No 1364/2006/EC and amending Regulations (EC) No 713/2009, (EC) No 714/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009

(Text with EEA relevance)

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

1. This Regulation lays down guidelines for the timely development and interoperability of priority corridors and areas of trans-European energy infrastructure set out in Annex I (‘energy infrastructure priority corridors and areas’).

2. In particular, this Regulation:

(a) addresses the identification of projects of common interest necessary to implement priority corridors and areas falling under the energy infrastructure categories in electricity, gas, oil, and carbon dioxide set out in Annex II (‘energy infrastructure categories’);

(b) facilitates the timely implementation of projects of common interest by streamlining, coordinating more closely, and accelerating permit granting processes and by enhancing public participation;

(c) provides rules and guidance for the cross-border allocation of costs and risk-related incentives for projects of common interest;

(d) determines the conditions for eligibility of projects of common interest for Union financial assistance.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation, in addition to the definitions provided for in Directives 2009/28/EC, 2009/72/EC and 2009/73/EC, Regulations (EC) No 713/2009, (EC) No 714/2009, and (EC) No 715/2009, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) ‘energy infrastructure’ means any physical equipment or facility falling under the energy infrastructure categories which is located within the Union or linking the Union and one or more third countries;

(2) ‘comprehensive decision’ means the decision or set of decisions taken by a Member State authority or authorities not including courts or tribunals, that determines whether or not a project promoter is to be granted authorisation to build the energy infrastructure to realise a project without prejudice to any decision taken in the context of an administrative appeal procedure;

(3) ‘project’ means one or several lines, pipelines, facilities, equipments or installations falling under the energy infrastructure categories;

(4) ‘project of common interest’ means a project necessary to implement the energy infrastructure priority corridors and areas set out in Annex I and which is part of the Union list of projects of common interest referred to in Article 3;

(5) ‘energy infrastructure bottleneck’ means limitation of physical flows in an energy system due to insufficient transmission capacity, which includes inter alia the absence of infrastructure;

(6) ‘project promoter’ means one of the following:

(a) a TSO, distribution system operator or other operator or investor developing a project of common interest;

(b) where there are several TSOs, distribution system operators, other operators, investors, or any group thereof, the entity with legal personality under the applicable national law, which has been designated by contractual arrangement between them and which has the capacity to undertake legal obligations and assume financial liability on behalf of the parties to the contractual arrangement;

(7) ‘smart grid’ means an electricity network that can integrate in a cost efficient manner the behaviour and actions of all users connected to it, including generators, consumers and those that both generate and consume, in order to ensure an economically efficient and sustainable power system with low losses and high levels of quality, security of supply and safety;

(8) ‘works’ means the purchase, supply and deployment of components, systems and services including software, the carrying out of development and construction and installation activities relating to a project, the acceptance of installations and the launching of a project;

(9) ‘studies’ means activities needed to prepare project implementation, such as preparatory, feasibility, evaluation, testing and validation studies, including software, and any other technical support measure including prior action to define and develop a project and decide on its financing, such as reconnaissance of the sites concerned and preparation of the financial package;

(10) ‘national regulatory authority’ means a national regulatory authority designated in accordance with Article 35(1) of Directive 2009/72/EC or Article 39(1) of Directive 2009/73/EC;

(11) ‘commissioning’ means the process of bringing a project into operation once it has been constructed.

CHAPTER II

PROJECTS OF COMMON INTEREST

Article 3

Union list of projects of common interest

1. This Regulation establishes twelve Regional Groups (‘Groups’) as set out in Annex III.1. The membership of each Group shall be based on each priority corridor and area and their respective geographical coverage as set out in Annex I. Decision-making powers in the Groups shall be restricted to Member States and the Commission, who shall, for those purposes, be referred to as the decision-making body of the Groups.

2. Each Group shall adopt its own rules of procedure, having regard to the provisions set out in Annex III.

3. The decision-making body of each Group shall adopt a regional list of proposed projects of common interest drawn up according to the process set out in Annex III.2, according to the contribution of each project to implementing the energy infrastructure priority corridors and areas and according to their fulfilment of the criteria set out in Article 4.

When a Group draws up its regional list:

(a) each individual proposal for a project of common interest shall require the approval of the Member States, to whose territory the project relates; if a Member State decides not to give its approval, it shall present its substantiated reasons for doing so to the Group concerned;

(b) it shall take into account advice from the Commission that is aimed at having a manageable total number of projects of common interest.

4. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 16 that establish the Union list of projects of common interest (‘Union list’), subject to the second paragraph of Article 172 of the TFEU. The Union list shall take the form of an annex to this Regulation.

In exercising its power, the Commission shall ensure that the Union list is established every two years, on the basis of the regional lists adopted by the decision-making bodies of the Groups as established in Annex III.1(2), following the procedure set out in paragraph 3 of this Article.

The first Union list shall be adopted by 30 September 2013.

5. The Commission shall, when adopting the Union list on the basis of the regional lists:

(a) ensure that only those projects that fulfil the criteria referred to in Article 4 are included;

(b) ensure cross-regional consistency, taking into account the opinion of the Agency as referred to in Annex III.2(12);

(c) take into account any opinions of Member States as referred to in Annex III.2(9); and

(d) aim for a manageable total number of projects of common interest on the Union list.

6. Projects of common interest included on the Union list pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article shall become an integral part of the relevant regional investment plans under Article 12 of Regulations (EC) No 714/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 and of the relevant national 10-year network development plans under Article 22 of Directives 2009/72/EC and 2009/73/EC and other national infrastructure plans concerned, as appropriate. Those projects shall be conferred the highest possible priority within each of those plans.

Article 4

Criteria for projects of common interest

1. Projects of common interest shall meet the following general criteria:

(a) the project is necessary for at least one of the energy infrastructure priority corridors and areas;

(b) the potential overall benefits of the project, assessed according to the respective specific criteria in paragraph 2, outweigh its costs, including in the longer term; and

(c) the project meets any of the following criteria:

(i) involves at least two Member States by directly crossing the border of two or more Member States;

(ii) is located on the territory of one Member State and has a significant cross-border impact as set out in Annex IV.1;

(iii) crosses the border of at least one...