Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing an information exchange mechanism with regard to intergovernmental agreements and non-binding instruments between Member States and third countries in the field of energy and repealing Decision No 994/2012/EU

Author (Corporate)
Series Title
Series Details (2016) 53 final (16.02.16)
Publication Date 16/02/2016
Content Type

An information exchange mechanism with regard to intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) between Member States and third countries in the field of energy was established by a Decision adopted by the Parliament and Council on 25 October 2012, which entered into force on 17 November 2012 (the IGA Decision). The main feature of this mechanism is that the Commission carries out compliance checks of IGAs after a Member State and a third country have concluded such agreements.

Since 2012, the Commission has gained significant experience in the implementation of this mechanism. In general, as analysed in the Impact Assessment on the revision of the IGA Decision and in the report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the application of the IGA Decision, the Commission's assessment is that while the current system is useful for receiving information on existing IGAs and for identifying problems posed by them in terms of their compatibility with EU law, it is not sufficient to solve such incompatibilities.

Therefore, Commission's involvement before a Member State and a third country have concluded such agreements would provide an essential added value by resolving potential conflicts between obligations of Member States under international treaty law and EU law.

In this context the revision of the IGA Decision has two main objectives:
(1) Ensure the compliance of IGAs with EU law to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market and enhance the EU's energy security; and
(2) Enhance the transparency of IGAs in order to increase the cost effectiveness of the EU's energy supply and solidarity between Member States.

The review of the current IGA Decision forms part of the deliverables of the Energy Union Strategy adopted in February 2015, which sets the overall context and governance structure for a renewed EU energy policy.

Source Link Link to Main Source http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2016:053:FIN
Related Links
ESO: Background information: Towards Energy Union: The Commission presents sustainable energy security package http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-towards-energy-union-the-commission-presents-sustainable-energy-security-package/
EUR-Lex: COM(2016)53: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2016:053:FIN
EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)27: Impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:027:FIN
EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)28: Executive summary of the impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:028:FIN
EUR-Lex: COM(2016)54: Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee on the application of the Decision 994/2012/EU establishing an information exchange mechanism on intergovernmental agreements between Member States and third countries in the field of energy http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2016:054:FIN

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