On 7 April 2016, the obligation for market
participants to report wholesale energy supply contracts executed
over-the-counter, transportation contracts and additional fundamental data
under the EU Regulation on Wholesale Energy Integrity and Transparency (REMIT)
enters into application. This 2nd phase of data collection will
complement the Agency’s data collection of wholesale energy market
transactions, including orders to trade, executed at organised market places
and of fundamental data from the European Networks of Transmission System Operators
for electricity and gas that began 7 October 2015. In parallel with its effort
to register reporting parties as Registered Reporting Mechanisms (RRMs), the
Agency has provided a comprehensive set of guidance on transaction and
fundamental data reporting. In addition, the Agency will publish further REMIT
Q&As and FAQs on transaction and fundamental data reporting as required.
Market participants should therefore be well prepared for data reporting as of
7 April 2016.
Alberto Pototschnig, Director of ACER, emphasised that “the second phase completes the reporting of trade and fundamental data to the Agency, thus giving us the full picture of trading in wholesale energy markets in the EU. With this information, the Agency will be able to monitor these markets more effectively, to promote their integrity and transparency”.
RRM registration for the 2nd phase of data collection
The Agency and National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) are well prepared for the final stage of data collection as of 7 April 2016. In parallel to the ongoing registration of market participants by NRAs, the Agency has already approved 45 RRMs. The Agency is managing numerous additional RRM applications, mostly from self-reporting market participants. In the light of the Agency’s limited resources, it will continue to prioritise the RRM applications from third-party RRMs and from Transmission System Operators, Storage System Operators and LNG System Operators. This means that the Agency will only perform the registration of self-reporting market participants on a best effort-basis. Given that the RRM registration process typically takes at least three months, the Agency expects those RRM applicants who are not yet in the final testing stage of the RRM registration process to rely on third-party RRMs. The Agency therefore strongly advises market participants to approach one of the registered third-party RRMs in order to fulfil their reporting obligation as of 7 April 2016. The Agency has recently published on the REMIT Portal a list of RRMs which also indicates the data types for which the RRMs were approved.
Guidance on transaction and fundamental data reporting as of 7 April 2016
On 16 February 2016, the Agency organised the 11th public workshop on REMIT implementation which was attended by 140 participants. The workshop focussed on transaction and fundamental data reporting for the 2nd phase of data collection under REMIT as of 7 April 2016. During the workshop, third-party RRMs providing services for 2nd phase reporting were invited to present themselves and given the opportunity to network with potential future clients. In the margins of the workshop, the Agency published another update of its Q&As on REMIT and FAQs on transaction reporting, along with four instructional videos on how to become registered as an RRM. In this way, the Agency is doing its utmost to assist stakeholders to fulfil their obligations under REMIT. The Agency will continue to provide further guidance through the publication of additional REMIT Q&As and FAQs on transaction and fundamental data reporting in the course of the month and beyond, as required.
Commitment to facilitate data reporting for the purpose of market monitoring
The Agency is fully focussed on data collection as of 7 April 2016 and has therefore dedicated its limited resources to provide guidance and support to market participants in order to facilitate their reporting. The Agency is constantly aiming to improve its interaction with stakeholders through public workshops, roundtable meetings, Q&As and FAQs. It has established a Central Service Desk for reporting parties. It also introduced contingency measures for RRMs, including for RRM applicants, at the testing stage of the RRM registration process, facing technical reporting issues. However, the Agency’s commitment to facilitate data reporting for reporting parties is constrained by the Agency’s limited resources.
More specifically, the Agency has decided to maintain all XML schemas for the 1st and 2nd phases of reporting, therefore the electronic formats for reporting remain unchanged. This will smoothen the process despite some stakeholders’ requests for changes. The current schemas resulted from public consultations with stakeholders in 2014. Any potential future revisions of the current XML schemas will hence not take place before spring 2017 and following a consultation with relevant stakeholders.
The preservation of the current schemas will ensure operational reliability and legal certainty for both the Agency and reporting parties during the start-up phase of transaction reporting under REMIT.
In addition, the Agency has postponed the start of the collection of inside information through web-feeds by 6 months to 1 January 2017. In the same way the possibility for market participants to make sample transaction data requests from ARIS in order to verify the completeness, accuracy and timeliness of data submission has been postponed by 9 months to 1 January 2017.
Background
The purpose of data collection is market monitoring. REMIT establishes a new, unprecedented, sector-specific market monitoring framework to detect and prevent market abuse in European wholesale energy markets, where energy should be traded according to the highest transparency and integrity standards. The full implementation of REMIT is vital to guarantee well-functioning markets to the benefits of European energy consumers. This is even more important now that the single market is being completed through rules directly applicable throughout the Union and other developments such as a single day-ahead market for electricity, which operates from the Iberian Peninsula to Scandinavia and a common platform for allocating cross-border gas capacity on a growing number of interconnection points.
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