Most countries in the EU have not yet started to change their national laws to get in line with new European energy market rules.
The European Commission on Wednesday (28th September) launched infringement proceedings against member states that have not yet transcribed the third energy package into their national legislation, energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger announced, speaking at a conference in Brussels.
A Commission spokeswoman said that only 10 member states have so far said that they have implemented the new electricity directive in the third package. She listed these countries as the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland and Portugal.
Only nine countries have implemented the gas directive − the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland and Portugal.
This means that infringement procedures have been launched against the other EU member states, including key gas and electricity markets in the UK, France, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Speaking at a conference entitled “The completion of the EU internal energy market”, Oettinger warned that the 2014 deadline for an internal market may be missed as a result of member states not complying with deadlines. The original deadline for member states to adopt the third energy package into national legislation was the beginning of March 2011.
In his speech, Oettinger also highlighted that the certification procedure of transmission system operators (TSOs) – to be undertaken by national regulators, which then have to submit their decisions to the Commission - is now under way.
The new certification is necessary to prove that TSOs comply with third package rules on the unbundling between supply and transport of energy.
Oettinger confirmed that the Commission had received the first three certification decisions from the French regulator last week. The Commission did not specify whether the regulators of any other member states have made any submissions. The official deadline is the end of September.
The Commission previously told ICIS Heren that there will be delays to this deadline, and that Cyprus had already informed the Commission that it would not be submitting a report this year.