ACER publishes its Position Paper on the regulatory oversight of (new) entities performing monopoly or near-monopoly functions at EU wide or regional level

The regional approach is an important component of the Energy Union Strategy. The implementation of the Third Energy Package envisages the establishment of new entities performing (new) monopoly or near monopoly functions. Some of these entities/functions have a clear EU-wide coverage (e.g. MCO function operator), while others have a regional scope (e.g. RSCs in electricity; and capacity allocation platforms in gas) with a potential to grow into EU-wide entities.

This Agency’s Position Paper outlines an approach for an effective regulatory oversight of entities performing monopoly or near-monopoly functions at EU-wide or regional level, taking the principle of proportionality and subsidiarity into account and based on the complementarity of regulatory action at national and EU level.

The Agency proposes that the responsibility for the regulatory oversight of these entities is assigned to the Agency itself when they perform monopoly or near-monopoly functions at EU-wide level, or at regional level with a clear roadmap for EU-wide integration. National Regulatory Authorities cooperating at regional level should instead be responsible for the regulatory oversight of entities performing monopoly or near-monopoly functions at regional level. In this latter case, the Agency will monitor that such entities and their regulatory oversight remain in line with the Internal Energy Market principles. The exact form of such an oversight will have to be defined on the basis of an assessment of the specific functions that the entities perform, the way in which such functions are performed and the risks to the integration and well-functioning of the Internal Energy Market.

The Position Paper is available here.