Legal and regulatory framework

Europe

Since 3 March 2011, the European natural gas market is regulated by the Third Energy Package:

  • Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning the common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 2003/55/EC (the Third gas Directive);
  • Regulation (EC) No. 715/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on conditions for access to the natural gas transmission networks and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1775/2005 (the Second Gas Regulation);
  • Regulation (EC) No. 713/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 establishing and Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (the ACER Regulation).

Belgium

The federal government is responsible for large-scale energy storage, transmission and generation infrastructure, in our case the Fluxys natural gas transmission system, the company’s natural gas storage facilities and Fluxys LNG's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

The Regions are responsible for public gas distribution, and specifically for the gas distribution systems managed by the intermunicipal companies and for the rational use of energy.

The federal energy regulator CREG determines tariff methodology not only for the natural gas transmission system, natural gas storage facilities and LNG terminal operators, but also for the natural gas distribution system operators.

The activities of Fluxys and Fluxys LNG, including tariff aspects, are regulated by the Federal Act of 12 April 1965 concerning the transmission of gaseous and other products by pipelines (the Gas Act), supplemented with royal decrees concerning both tariffs (two Royal Decrees on Tariffs) and the more technical aspects of grid access (Code of Conduct).

Transposition of the Third Gas Directive

The Third Gas Directive entered into force on 3 September 2009. Many of the provisions contained in this Directive will have a direct impact on the natural gas transmission system operator, the natural gas storage facilities operator and the LNG facilities operator, in particular the more stringent requirements in terms of the unbundling of transmission activities within the broader context of supply (ownership unbundling) and the new procedure requiring operators to have obtained certification from the regulator prior to appointment.

> Read more about the Third Energy Package

Regulated activities

In the current legal and regulatory framework, a regulated system applies to the transmission (border-to-border and domestic) and storage of natural gas and to the LNG terminal’s activities. The regulated activities are supervised by the federal regulator, the Commission for Electricity and Gas Regulation (CREG).

> Visit the CREG website

Different tariff systems

From 2008, tariffs for transmission and storage arer standard tariffs set for a four-year period. In 2011, CREG published a tariff methodology which is the basis for the tariff calculation.

> Tariff methodology in Dutch or in French   

Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct sets out the conditions for access to the natural gas infrastructure. These conditions are a set of operational and commercial rules that lay down the framework within which Fluxys and Fluxys LNG sign contracts with users of the transmission, storage and LNG infrastructure.

The first Code of Conduct was established by the Royal Decree of 4 April 2003. Since 2006, CREG has organised a range of market consultations concerning changes to this existing code. On 15 January 2011, the Royal Decree of 23 December 2010 concerning a new Code of Conduct entered into force and the new code now applies to border-to-border transmission as well.

The new Code of Conduct stipulates that all operators (transmission, storage and LNG terminalling) must compile several documents all of which must be submitted to CREG for approval: access rules, service programmes and service agreements and connection agreements. System users are consulted while the documents are being drafted to ensure that the services offered are tailored as closely as possible to market requirements.

Under the new Code of Conduct, system operators must also appoint a compliance officer to ensure that they fulfil the requirements regarding non-discrimination in terms of grid access. Fluxys has already appointed a compliance officer who is responsible for conducting internal audits and managing the process of following up complaints in the event of any infringement, intentional or otherwise, of the stipulated requirements.

Tips for using search operators

Use "quotation marks" to search for a series of words or a phrase in a specific order.

Boolean operators

You can find a group of words or a phrase by using the link words AND, OR and NOT:
known as Boolean operators, these words are used to combine terms in the search field.

  • AND: All the search terms must be included in the publication. Typing in Apple AND Pear will return publications containing both the word Apple and the word Pear.

     

  • OR :  At least one of the search terms must be included in the publication. Typing in Apple OR Pear will return publications containing either the word Apple or the word Pear or both.

     

  • NOT: The term preceded by NOT must not be included in the publication. Typing in Apple NOT Pear will return publications containing the word Apple but not the word Pear.