L_2014084EN.01006101.xml
| 20.3.2014 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | L 84/61 |
REGULATION (EU) No 256/2014 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 26 February 2014
concerning the notification to the Commission of investment projects in energy infrastructure within the European Union, replacing Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 617/2010 and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 736/96
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 194 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),
After consulting the Committee of the Regions,
Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (2),
Whereas:
| (1) | Obtaining an overall picture of the development of investment in energy infrastructure in the Union is essential for the development of the Union’s energy policy and for the Commission to perform its tasks in the field of energy. The availability of regular and up-to-date data and information should enable the Commission to make the necessary comparisons and evaluations and to propose relevant measures based on appropriate figures and analysis, in particular concerning the future balance between energy supply and demand. |
| (2) | The energy landscape within and outside the Union has changed significantly in recent years and makes investment in energy infrastructure a crucial issue for securing the Union’s energy supply, for the functioning of the internal market and for the transition towards a low-carbon energy system which the Union has begun. |
| (3) | The new energy context requires significant investment in all kinds of infrastructure in all energy sectors as well as the development of new types of infrastructure and new technologies to be taken up by the market. The liberalisation of the energy sector and the further integration of the internal market give a more prominent role to economic operators for investment. At the same time, new policy requirements such as targets affecting the fuel mix will alter Member States’ policies towards new and/or modernised energy infrastructure. |
| (4) | In this context, greater attention should be paid to investment in energy infrastructure in the Union, in particular with a view to anticipating problems, promoting best practices and establishing greater transparency on the future development of the Union’s energy system. |
| (5) | The Commission and in particular its Market Observatory for Energy should therefore have at its disposal accurate data and information on investment projects, including decommissioning, in the most significant components of the Union’s energy system. |
| (6) | Data and information regarding foreseeable developments in production, transmission and storage capacities and projects in the various energy sectors are of interest to the Union and are important to future investment. It is therefore necessary to ensure that the Commission is notified of investment projects on which construction or decommissioning work has started or on which a final investment decision has been taken. |
| (7) | Pursuant to Articles 41 and 42 of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom Treaty), undertakings are under an obligation to notify their investment projects. It is necessary to supplement such information with, in particular, a regular reporting on the implementation of investment projects. Such additional reporting is without prejudice to Articles 41 to 44 of the Euratom Treaty. However, imposing a double burden on undertakings should be avoided wherever possible. |
| (8) | In order for the Commission to have a consistent view of the future developments of the Union’s energy system as a whole, a harmonised reporting framework for investment projects based on updated categories of official data and information to be transmitted by the Member States is necessary. |
| (9) | Member States should, to this end, notify to the Commission data and information on investment projects in energy infrastructure planned or under construction in their territory concerning the production, storage and transport of oil, natural gas, electricity, including electricity from renewable sources, electricity from coal and lignite, and the co-generation of electricity and useful heat; the production of bio-fuels; and the capture, transport and storage of carbon dioxide. Member States should also notify to the Commission data and information on investment projects in electricity interconnections and gas interconnections with third countries. Undertakings concerned should be under an obligation to notify such data and information to the Member State concerned. |
| (10) | Given the time horizon of investment projects in the energy sector, reporting every two years should be sufficient. |
| (11) | With a view to avoiding disproportionate administrative burdens and to minimise costs to Member States and undertakings, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises, this Regulation should allow Member States and undertakings to be exempted from reporting obligations provided that equivalent information has already been supplied to the Commission pursuant to energy sector-specific Union legal acts, aiming at achieving the objectives of competitive energy markets in the Union, of sustainability of the Union’s energy system and of the security of energy supply to the Union. Any duplication of reporting requirements specified in the third internal market package for electricity and natural gas should therefore be avoided. In order to ease the reporting burden, the Commission should provide support to Member States with a view to clarify in which cases it considers that data or information already notified to it under other legal acts meet the requirements of this Regulation. |
| (12) | The Commission, and in particular its Market Observatory for Energy, should be able to take all appropriate measures to process data and to simplify and secure data notification, and in particular to operate integrated IT tools and procedures, which should guarantee the confidentiality of the data or information notified to the Commission. |
| (13) | The protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Member States is governed by Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), while the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Commission is governed by Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4). This Regulation leaves those provisions intact. |
| (14) | Member States, or their delegated entities, and the Commission should preserve the confidentiality of commercially sensitive data and information. Therefore, Member States or their delegated entities should, with the exception of data and information related to cross-border transmission projects, aggregate such data and information at national level before submitting it to the Commission. If required the Commission should further aggregate those data in such a way as to prevent any details concerning individual undertakings or installations from being disclosed or inferred. |
| (15) | The Commission and in particular its Market Observatory for Energy should provide a regular and cross-sector analysis of the structural evolution and perspectives of the Union’s energy system and, where appropriate, more focused analysis on certain aspects of that energy system. That analysis should in particular contribute to enhancing energy security by identifying possible infrastructure and investment gaps with a view to achieving a balance between energy supply and demand. The analysis should also form a contribution to a discussion at Union level about energy infrastructures and should therefore be forwarded to the European Parliament, to the Council and to the European Economic and Social Committee and made available to interested parties. |
| (16) | Small and medium-sized enterprises will be able to benefit, in the context of their investment planning, from the Commission’s cross-sector analysis and the data and information published by the Commission under this Regulation. |
| (17) | The Commission may be assisted by experts from Member States or any other competent experts with a view to developing a common understanding of potential infrastructure gaps and associated risks and to fostering transparency regarding future developments, which is of particular interest for new market entrants. |
| (18) | This Regulation should replace Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 617/2010 (5), which was annulled by the Court of Justice on 6 September 2012 (6) and the effects of which were to be maintained until the entry into force of a new regulation. Therefore, with the entry into force of this Regulation, the annulment of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 617/2010, as ruled by the Court, should take effect. Furthermore, Council Regulation (EC) No 736/96 (7), that was repealed by the annulled Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 617/2010, should be repealed by this Regulation. |
| (19) | The form and technical details of the notification to the Commission of data and information on investment projects in energy infrastructure are set out in the Commission Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 833/2010 (8). Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 833/2010 should remain applicable until its revision, which will follow the adoption of this Regulation. |
| (20) | Since the objectives of this Regulation cannot be sufficiently achieved by the |
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