Practical information

Principles

Hybrid events

In the post Covid-19 era, the Secretariat’s event management builds fully on hybrid events. The changed approach is additionally driven by the Secretariat's commitment to green event management (EMAS).

Our online event registration forms give you the choice between in- person or online participation. You can find the virtual participation link from the event registration confirmation message, including the possibility to save the information into your calendar.
 

Event registration only with a login

In order to register for any of the Energy Community events, you necessitate a prior login.

The user profiles consist of two contact emails. This allows you to create an account and to do an event registration on behalf of another person. 
 

Two types of event registrations: open versus closed

You find the registration information either from your invitation, or/and from the corresponding event page. 

With some Energy Community events, the participation is restricted to nominated persons only. In short, the Secretariat restricts the registration for the given event to the members of the group only. In such a case you necessitate a group membership in order to register.
 

Reimbursement Rules in force

The Reimbursement Rules of the Energy Community lay down the conditions and procedures concerning the reimbursement of costs of travel for participation to the meetings of the institutions established by the Treaty, including bodies established by these institutions.

Eligibility for reimbursement of costs of travel depends on three factors, namely, 

• on organisation that you represent,
• on number of representatives and
• the type of the meeting you will be attending. 

Whether the relevant meeting is subject to reimbursement is stated in the related event invitation.  
 

How to register for an Energy Community event?

Most of the Energy Community events are open registration events. Anyone interested in the given event is free to register and can do the registration steps fully independently.

On the relevant event-page, you will find the registration box. The registration form is accessible via the registration box. The text in the box differs depending if you are logged in or not.
 

Restricted registration events: Can not register? What to do?

For some meetings, such as the Permanent High Level Group, ECRB, Task Force and Coordination Groups, participation is subject to a prior nomination. Subsequently only nominated participants have the right to register. This means the participants must not only have a login but also the corresponding group membership. 

In case you have been nominated, but do not have the group membership:

• Please send a message to [email protected], or, to the contacts stated in the invitation and request for a group membership. Please, do not forget to notify which event you wish to attend.
• After the Secretariat's confirmation on your new group membership, you can proceed with the event registration. Go the event-page, open the registration form, login and register.

After a successful event registration

If you are logged in and access the event-page after a successful registration, you will see a changed text in the registration box. The text now indicates that you are registered. 

As of the day of the event, the text in the registration box now calls for reimbursement claims. Assuming the event in question is subject to reimbursement.

Confirmation Message

A successful event registration also triggers a confirmation message. This is an automatically generated message and can easily land in a spam- folder.

Your event registration confirmation message will contain a link for virtual participation. We invite to save the event in your calendar. As the calendar entry includes the virtual link,  you do not have to scan through your mailbox for the 'old' message on the day of the event.
 

Cancellation

If you are logged in and access the event-page, the text in the registration box now indicates that you are registered, allowing the cancellation of your registration. In case of a cancellation, you will again receive a separate message as a confirmation.

We ask you to cancel your registration in case you can not attend in person. This way your seat can be re-allocated to someone else. You can re-register and opt this time for the virtual participation modus.
 

Reimbursement

As of the day of the event, the text in the registration box now prompts the participants to claim for reimbursement. The reimbursement form is accessible via the registration box for the duration of 30 days. 

At the same time, reimbursement is not offered for all events. Also the participant’s eligibility is dependent on the organisation he/she represents and the event specific reimbursement rules. 

Open the reimbursement box to learn more.
 

Eligible representatives

• participants from the state authorities from the Contracting Parties (Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine) and Observers (Armenia and Türkiye) under the Treaty,
• participants from the state authorities and/or private sector entities defined as target groups under the projects (“grant contracts”),
• participants at EU4ENERGY meetings from a Contracting Party shall be reimbursed under project budget.
• members of the Advisory Committee.

Eligible participants

• Without prejudice to the specified exceptions, only one representative per beneficiary party (ministry, regulatory authority, agency, entity etc.) shall be eligible for reimbursement.
• The Director of the Energy Community Secretariat may allow reimbursement for more than one representative on an ad hoc basis for eligible representatives of the beneficiaries (see Art 3(1)) specific institutional set up on the ground of their political structure.
• For workshops and conferences, participation of up to two representatives per Contracting Party and other beneficiary countries, unless the Director decides otherwise.
• Where only one participant is eligible, two or more participants from one beneficiary party may be reimbursed within the overall envisaged budget for one participant in accordance with the established limits.
   

Eligible speakers

Requests for reimbursement of speakers at Energy Community events shall be considered eligible only if the Director of the Energy Community Secretariat has approved their reimbursement in advance.
 

Eligible Meetings

The rules for reimbursement are applicable to the institutional meetings of the Energy Community as well as bodies established by those institutions. These comprise:

• the Ministerial Council;
• the Permanent High Level Group;
• the Energy Community Fora (Electricity Forum, Gas Forum, Oil Forum);
• the Energy Community Regulatory Board, including its Working Groups (”WG”);
• the Budget Committee;
• the Task Forces, Coordination Groups and other working bodies established by the decisions or conclusions of the Ministerial Council or the Director; and,
• Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum meetings
• the Advisory Committee meetings.

Participation in conferences, other fora (such as sustainability, law or dispute resolution forum, competition and state aid conferences etc.), meetings and workshops organized by the Secretariat in implementing the Work Program of the Energy Community, shall be eligible for reimbursement. Whether participation costs are subject to refunding or not shall be explicitly indicated in the relevant invitation.

Entitlement

Only the costs of travel are reimbursed. No per diems will be paid in addition to the travel expenses. The costs of travel comprise the costs of transportation and costs of accommodation as necessary for the purposes of the meeting in question. For all events eligible for reimbursement, the cost of travel to be reimbursed per meeting and per eligible participant from any beneficiary party may not exceed EUR 800. This maximum may be subject to changes, depending on the budgetary situation of the Energy Community.
 

Means of transport

In terms of means of transport, the participants are authorized to travel by:

• airplane,
• train and/or
• car.

Principles of the most cost-effective means of transport and the most direct route apply. For travel by plane, the cost of an economy class return ticket will be reimbursed. For travel by train, the cost of a second class return ticket will be reimbursed. For travel by private car, mileage costs will be reimbursed based on the most recent scale under Austrian legislation.

Costs for public transportation (bus, train, metro) shall be reimbursed. Taxi costs shall not be reimbursed; whenever public transportation is in place or reasonable. 

For meetings taking place in Vienna, public transportation shall be used.

 

Accommodation

In terms of accommodation, the participants should pay respect to the "hotel ceiling". Currently the Energy Community reimburses the maximum amount of 150 EUR per night for the cost of accommodation.

Only costs of accommodation shall be reimbursed.


 

Reimbursement claim requirements and procedure

• Reimbursement of eligible expenditures is possible only if the claimer has previously registered for the event in question through the website of the Energy Community. This requirement does not apply currently for the events organized under the grant contacts. 
• A claim for reimbursement of travel expenses has to be submitted using the online form on the Energy Community’s website within 30 calendar days after the date of the meeting in question. The reimbursement button will stay activated until 30 days after the event.
• The online claim must be supported by documents as evidence of the costs incurred, namely flight, railway, public transport tickets, hotel invoices etc. There will be no reimbursement of expenditures without invoices provided.
• Any related correspondence regarding reimbursement matters shall be sent in writing to [email protected] or to [email protected] (for grant contracts).
• Reimbursements shall be made only via bank transfer.
• Reimbursement will be made in Euro to the stated bank account of the institution nominating the delegate.

How to submit a claim?

• You must be logged in prior opening the reimbursement form.
• In order to access the reimbursement form, open the Event-section of the website, select Past Events and look for the relevant event. 
• Successful on-line registration is a prerequisite. You will be able to open the reimbursement form only if you have registered to the event. 
  • Attaching invoices is prerequisite for processing your claim. 
  • The file upload fields allow following types of files: pdf, jpeg, jpg, png, gif. The system does not allow word files. 
  • If you have to revise the form in order to submit, please, make sure to reattach your invoices. Otherwise the invoices will not be transmitted. 
  • Avoid using special characters in the text fields.