Member States shall ensure that regulatory authorities aregranted the powers enabling them to carry out the duties referredto in paragraph 1, 3 and 6 in an efficient and expeditious manner. For this purpose, the regulatory authority shall have at leastthe following powers:
(a) to issue binding decisions on natural gas undertakings;
(b) to carry out investigations into the functioning of the gasmarkets, and to decide upon and impose any necessary andproportionate measures to promote effective competitionand ensure the proper functioning of the market. Whereappropriate, the regulatory authority shall also have thepower to cooperate with the national competition authorityand the financial market regulators or the Commission inconducting an investigation relating to competition law;
(c) to require any information from natural gas undertakings relevant for the fulfilment of its tasks, including the justificationfor any refusal to grant third-party access, and any information on measures necessary to reinforce the network;
(d) to impose effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties onnatural gas undertakings not complying with their obligations under this Directive or any relevant legally binding decisions of the regulatory authority or of the Agency, or topropose to a competent court to impose such penalties. Thisshall include the power to impose or propose the impositionof penalties of up to 10 % of the annual turnover of the transmission system operator or of up to 10 % of the annual turnover of the vertically integrated undertaking on thetransmission system operator or on the vertically integratedundertaking, as the case may be, for non compliance withtheir respective obligations pursuant to this Directive; and
(e) appropriate rights of investigations and relevant powers ofinstructions for dispute settlement under paragraphs 11 and 12.
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