Case

On 7 October 2011, the Secretariat sent Opening Letters to Montenegro, as well as to Albania  and Serbia in accordance with Article 12 of the Rules of Procedure for Dispute Settlement. The Secretariat takes the preliminary view that these Contracting Parties failed to fulfill their obligations under the Energy Community Treaty by allocating capacity on electricity interconnectors in a discriminatory manner. 

Procedure

By sending an Opening Letter, the Secretariat initiates a preliminary procedure, the purpose of which is giving the Party concerned the possibility, within two months, to react to the allegation of non-compliance with Energy Community law, and enabling the Secretariat to establish the full background of the case.

According to Articles 6 and 16 of the Rules of Procedure for Dispute Settlement, interested parties may be granted access to the case file and may submit written observations on the present case to the Secretariat within one month from today.

Steps taken

Following the adoption of the new Allocation Rules for 2012 by Montenegro, the Secretariat decided to close the Case ECS-10/11 on 1 September 2012.

Reasoning

As a follow up to the Secretariat’s Opening Letters in cases ECS-09/11, 10/11 and 11/11, Albania, Montenegro and Serbia, adopted new Allocation Rules for the year 2012.

The Secretariat assessed the new Allocation Rules and found them in compliance with the obligations under the Energy Community Treaty for allocating capacity on electricity interconnectors in a non-discriminatory manner. These rules do not contain discriminatory provisions allowing priority allocation and reservation of cross-border capacity.