1. Major new gas infrastructure, i.e. interconnectors, LNG and storage facilities, may, upon request, be exempted, for a defined period of time, from the provisions of Articles 9, 32, 33 and 34 and Article 41(6), (8) and (10) under the following conditions:
(a) the investment must enhance competition in gas supply and enhance security of supply;
(b) the level of risk attached to the investment must be such that the investment would not take place unless an exemption was granted;
(c) the infrastructure must be owned by a natural or legal per? son which is separate at least in terms of its legal form from the system operators in whose systems that infrastructure will be built;
(d) charges must be levied on users of that infrastructure; and
(e) the exemption must not be detrimental to competition or the effective functioning of the internal market in natural gas, or the efficient functioning of the regulated system to which the infrastructure is connected.
2. Paragraph 1 shall also apply to significant increases of capacity in existing infrastructure and to modifications of such infrastructure which enable the development of new sources of gas supply.
3. The regulatory authority referred to in Chapter VIII may, on a case-by-case basis, decide on the exemption referred to in para? graphs 1 and 2.
4. Where the infrastructure in question is located in the terri? tory of more than one Member State, the Agency may submit an advisory opinion to the regulatory authorities of the Member States concerned, which may be used as a basis for their decision, within two months from the date on which the request for exemption was received by the last of those regulatory authorities.
Where all the regulatory authorities concerned agree on the request for exemption within six months of the date on which it was received by the last of the regulatory authorities, they shall inform the Agency of their decision.
The Agency shall exercise the tasks conferred on the regulatory authorities of the Member States concerned by the present Article:
(a) where all regulatory authorities concerned have not been able to reach an agreement within a period of six months from the date on which the request for exemption was received by the last of those regulatory authorities; or
(b) upon a joint request from the regulatory authorities concerned.
All regulatory authorities concerned may, jointly, request that the period referred to in point (a) of the third subparagraph is extended by up to three months.
5. Before taking a decision, the Agency shall consult the rel?
evant regulatory authorities and the applicants.
6. An exemption may cover all or part of the capacity of the new infrastructure, or of the existing infrastructure with signifi? cantly increased capacity.
In deciding to grant an exemption, consideration shall be given, on a case-by-case basis, to the need to impose conditions regard? ing the duration of the exemption and non-discriminatory access to the infrastructure. When deciding on those conditions, account shall, in particular, be taken of the additional capacity to be built or the modification of existing capacity, the time horizon of the project and national circumstances.
Before granting an exemption, the regulatory authority shall decide upon the rules and mechanisms for management and allo? cation of capacity. The rules shall require that all potential users of the infrastructure are invited to indicate their interest in con? tracting capacity before capacity allocation in the new infrastruc? ture, including for own use, takes place. The regulatory authority shall require congestion management rules to include the obliga? tion to offer unused capacity on the market, and shall require users of the infrastructure to be entitled to trade their contracted capacities on the secondary market. In its assessment of the cri? teria referred to in points (a), (b) and (e) of paragraph 1, the regu? latory authority shall take into account the results of that capacity allocation procedure.
The exemption decision, including any conditions referred to in the second subparagraph of this paragraph, shall be duly reasoned and published.
7. Notwithstanding paragraph 3, Member States may provide that their regulatory authority or the Agency, as the case may be, shall submit, for the purposes of the formal decision, to the rel? evant body in the Member State its opinion on the request for an exemption. That opinion shall be published together with the decision.
8. The regulatory authority shall transmit to the Commission, without delay, a copy of every request for exemption as of its receipt. The decision shall be notified, without delay, by the com? petent authority to the Commission, together with all the relevant information with respect to the decision. That information may be submitted to the Commission in aggregate form, enabling the Commission to reach a well-founded decision. In particular, the information shall contain:
(a) the detailed reasons on the basis of which the regulatory authority, or Member State, granted or refused the exemp? tion together with a reference to paragraph 1 including the relevant point or points of that paragraph on which such decision is based, including the financial information justify? ing the need for the exemption;
(b) the analysis undertaken of the effect on competition and the effective functioning of the internal market in natural gas resulting from the grant of the exemption;
(c) the reasons for the time period and the share of the total capacity of the gas infrastructure in question for which the exemption is granted;
(d) in case the exemption relates to an interconnector, the result of the consultation with the regulatory authorities concerned; and
(e) the contribution of the infrastructure to the diversification of gas supply.
9. Within a period of two months from the day following the receipt of a notification, the Commission may take a decision requiring the regulatory authority to amend or withdraw the deci? sion to grant an exemption. That two-month period may be extended by an additional period of two months where further information is sought by the Commission. That additional period shall begin on the day following the receipt of the complete infor? mation. The initial two-month period may also be extended with the consent of both the Commission and the regulatory authority.
Where the requested information is not provided within the period set out in the request, the notification shall be deemed to be withdrawn unless, before the expiry of that period, either the period has been extended with the consent of both the Commis? sion and the regulatory authority, or the regulatory authority, in a duly reasoned statement, has informed the Commission that it considers the notification to be complete.
The regulatory authority shall comply with the Commission deci? sion to amend or withdraw the exemption decision within a period of one month and shall inform the Commission accordingly.
The Commission shall preserve the confidentiality of commer?
cially sensitive information.
The Commission’s approval of an exemption decision shall lose its effect two years from its adoption in the event that construc? tion of the infrastructure has not yet started, and five years from its adoption in the event that the infrastructure has not become operational unless the Commission decides that any delay is due to major obstacles beyond control of the person to whom the exemption has been granted.
10. The Commission may adopt Guidelines for the application of the conditions laid down in paragraph 1 of this Article and to set out the procedure to be followed for the application of para? graphs 3, 6, 8 and 9 of this Article. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 51(3).
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