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Mission & Objectives

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) fosters a fully integrated and well-functioning Internal Energy Market, where electricity and gas are traded and supplied according to the highest integrity and transparency standards, and EU consumers benefit from a wider choice, fair prices and greater protection. For this purpose, we ​work with European Institutions, NRAs and stakeholders.

ACER's missions and tasks are established by the Third Energy Package and the Regulation (EU) 2019/942 (recast)

Over the years, the Agency received additional tasks and responsibilities to better pursue the integration of the European internal energy market. With the latest provisions adopted in the Clean Energy Package (2019), the Agency has also further strengt​hened its responsibilities on the coordination of NRAs and cross-border cooperation.


 How w​e work​​

ACER's main areas of activity are: 

- supporting the integration of the European market, by developing a common network and market rules, coordinating NRAs at European level, as well as by taking part in regional and cross-regional initiatives and organising working groups.

- monitoring the well-functioning and transparency of the EU internal energy market, in order to deter market manipulation and abusive behaviour. Since the end of 2011, the Agency has the specific mandate of overseeing wholesale energy trading. 

- advising the EU Institutions on trans-European energy infrastructural issues. ACER also monitors the work of the European Networks of Transmission System Operators for gas and electricity (ENTSO-E and ENTSOG); issuing opinions on their EU-wide network development plans (TYNDP) and ensuring that these are aligned with the priorities set at European level.​

To achieve progress on these tasks, the Agency can issue:​

  • ​​non-binding opinions and recommendations to NRAs, transmission system operators (TSOs), and the EU institutions,
  • binding individual decisions in specific cases and conditions about cross-border infrastructural issues,
  • draft framework guidelines (as in the case of network codes), upon the request of the European Commission.

A detailed list of tasks and deliverables can be found in the ACER work programme.​​

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