Energy Commission welcomes court decision about gas directive

Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs welcomed the decision of the European Court of Justice against Luxembourg for not having transposed the 2003 directive for the liberalisation of Gas Markets.
“This ruling confirms the commitment of the Commission to go ahead in building up a truly open internal market”, said Commissioner Piebalgs.

The transposition of the Gas Liberalisation Directive should have been completed by 1st July 2004. Luxembourg could also be condemned soon for non transposition of the electricity directive. Luxembourg and Spain are the only two Member States that have failed to transpose the gas and electricity liberalisation directives.
The Green Paper for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy that the Commission adopted in March this year stresses the need for an open energy market in the European Union which will bring down prices, improve security of supply and boost competitiveness.

In its report on the internal market for electricity and gas, adopted in November 2005, the Commission identified the delay in applying the 2003 gas and electricity directives. This was identified as one of the main causes for the shortcomings in the European internal energy market. On that occasion the Commission urged the Member States that had not yet transposed the gas and electricity directives to do so as quickly as possible.
In March this year, the Commission opened infringement procedures against 17 Member States for not opening their energy markets correctly.

The Commission will carry-out a detailed country-by-country review of the effectiveness in practice of the legislative and regulatory measures in connection with market opening, including specific additional national measures. This will lead to a report by the end of 2006 and, if necessary, proposals to redress any remaining requirements.
In parallel, the Commission will also complete its competition sector enquiry.