summary of the case
| status: | opened under Article 91 |
|---|---|
| registered: | ex officio 2021 |
Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 2003/55/EC was incorporated in the Energy Community acquis by Decision 2011/02/MC-EnC of the Ministerial Council of the Energy Community of 6 October 2011.
According to Article 10 of the Directive 2009/73/EC, an undertaking needs to be certified before it is approved and designated as transmission system operator. In order to be certified, the undertaking needs to comply with the unbundling requirements of the Third Energy Package. Directive 2009/73/EC recognizes three options for unbundling of TSOs: ownership unbundling, independent system operator or independent transmission operator. The ITO model permits the TSO to remain part of a vertically integrated undertaking as long as a set of detailed behavioral and structural criteria, laid down in Chapter IV of the Gas Directive, are respected. In accordance with Ministerial Council Decision 2012/05/MC-EnC of 5 December 2012, the deadline for unbundling of the gas TSOs in Moldova was 1 January 2020.
The Secretariat preliminary concludes that the Moldovan TSO Moldovatransgaz does not comply with the criteria for an Independent Transmission Operator (specifically Articles 17(1)(a), 18(3), 20), its chosen unbundling model, and that the Moldovan energy regulator ANRE was correct in rejecting the certification request of Moldovatransgaz in August 2021.
Consequently, the Secretariat is of the view that, by failing to implement the requirements of unbundling and certification of the transmission system operator Moldovatransgaz as established by Articles 10(1), 17(1)(a), 18(3) and 20 of the Gas Directive, the Republic of Moldova fails to comply with its obligations under the Energy Community Treaty.