The European Commission (EC) seeks to amend the Gas Directive (2009/73/EC) of the Third Energy Package in order to ensure that all major pipelines that enter the EU territory are operated under the same degree of transparency and efficiency and are accessible to all operators.
The EC wishes to establish common rules for gas pipelines entering the European internal gas market and has proposed to modify the current Gas Directive so that it would be applicable to all existing and potential future pipelines equally, including offshore pipelines. Extending EU rules to gas import pipelines would diminish conflicts of interests between infrastructure operators and gas suppliers.
According to the EC, the aim of the amendment modification is expected to complete the existing Gas Directive and highlight the core principles of EU energy legislation such as the third-party access, tariff regulation, ownership unbundling and transparency.