Electricity and Gas

At its session held on 16 June 2003, the Council adopted two Directives and a Regulation aimed at accelerating the liberalisation of the EU’s gas and electricity markets. The Council accepted all of the amendments voted by the European Parliament at the second reading.

The text provides for liberalisation of the Community electricity and gas markets for non-household users by 1 July 2004, and a complete opening for all users by 1 July 2007. They establish provisions for the unbundling of transmission and distribution operators, public service obligations, regulatory tasks and third party access to gas storage, as well as rules on pricing and the allocation of available interconnection capacities for cross-border exchanges in electricity.

The official texts of the two Directives (the European Parliament and Council Directive aimed at amending Directive 96/92/EC concerning rules for the internal market in electricity, and the European Parliament and Council Directive aimed at amending Directive 98/30/EC concerning rules for the internal market in gas) and of the Regulation (the European Parliament and Council Regulation on conditions of access to network for cross-border exchanges of electricity) will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union in the forthcoming weeks.