According to Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No. 713/2009 establishing an Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, "in carrying out its tasks, in particular in the process of developing framework guidelines (...), the Agency shall consult extensively and at an early stage with market participants, transmission system operators, consumers, end-users and, where relevant, competition authorities, without prejudice to their respective competence, in an open and transparent manner, in particular when its tasks concern transmission system operators".
 
ACER invites all interested parties to answer the questionnaire related to the consultation paper (Framework Guidelines on System Operation) and/or to express their views on other aspects not raised in the questionnaire if necessary. Responses should be sent by email to consultation2011E05@acer.europa.eu until 15 September 2011. Please note that for the sake of readability and better understanding of the background of the Framework Guidelines on System Operation, the Initial Impact Assessment is enclosed too, even though it is not a subject of consultation.
 
In order to benefit from the public consultation in the best way possible, ACER encourages stakeholders to provide constructive and comprehensive answers to each question. In particular, ACER promotes that large companies coordinate their answers internally, so that the submission received by ACER gives a clear message about the policy option the stakeholders wish to represent.
 
Following the public consultation period, ACER will publish all answers received from stakeholders. If a respondent would like ACER to treat its contribution with confidentiality, this must be explicitly mentioned in its submission. Stakeholders shall also consider that confidential answers could be used in a limited way. ACER therefore advises stakeholders to claim confidentiality on commercially sensitive information and make sure that along the confidential answers a non-confidential version is also submitted.