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Publication date: 15.05.2024
Recommendations on the procedure for concluding a natural gas transportation contract.
AMCU revealed the lack of settlement of a number of issues related to the procedure for concluding a contract for the transportation of natural gas.
Namely, what at the regulatory and legal level:
the method and forms of submission of documents necessary for the establishment of contractual relationships, in particular with customers of transportation services located in a country that is a member and/or not a member of the European Union, are not regulated;
no requirements have been established regarding the methods and form of providing documents (electronic or paper), which can be used by customers of transportation services and the operator of the gas transportation system during the conclusion of the contract;
the procedure for registration by the GTS Operator of incoming and outgoing correspondence, including the application for the conclusion of the transportation contract and the documents attached to it, has not been established;
the term of suspension by the GTS Operator of the consideration of the application for the conclusion of a transportation contract is not regulated if the application and the documents attached to it are not submitted in full, i.e. from the moment the GTS Operator registers a written request or from the moment the written request is actually sent to the customer of transportation services to clarify the completeness his statement or documents.
According to the AMCU, the lack of regulation of such relations of interaction between the GTS Operator and the customer of transportation services may contain signs of a violation of the legislation on the protection of economic competition in the actions of the NCRECP, namely Article 17 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of Economic Competition".Therefore, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine provided recommendations to the NCRECP to agree on the issue of interaction between service customers and the GTS Operator in terms of requirements and deadlines for providing documents during the conclusion of a gas transportation contract.
The recommendations consist in establishing clear requirements for the method and form of interaction (electronic, paper), requirements for the form of documents (including electronic), requirements for the order and terms of receiving and sending incoming/outgoing correspondence, as well as a written request to clarify the completeness of the application, in particular, the possibility of sending such a written request to the e-mail address of the customer of transportation services in the event that such an application and the documents attached to it are not submitted in full.
"The proper implementation of such recommendations by the NCRECP will provide customers of natural gas transportation services with the opportunity to forecast their activities on the territory of Ukraine within a clear time frame and will put non-resident customers of services that are not members of the European Union on an equal footing with customers of services that are members of the EU or operate on the territory of Ukraine," AMCU stressed.
AMCU also reported that these recommendations are mandatory for review within 30 days from the moment of adoption.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has identified a number of unresolved issues related to the procedure for concluding natural gas transportation contracts.In particular, the AMCU drew attention to the lack of regulatory legal regulation of the method and form of submission of documents necessary for the execution of contractual relations, as well as requirements regarding the methods of providing documents (electronic or paper) by customers of transportation services and the operator of the gas transportation system (GTS).
The absence of clear rules of interaction between the operator of the GTS and customers of transportation services may lead to a violation of the legislation on the protection of economic competition. In particular, this concerns the absence of a procedure for registering correspondence, periods of suspension of application consideration, and requirements for written requests to clarify the completeness of submitted documents.
In order to eliminate these shortcomings, the AMCU provided recommendations to the National Commission for State Regulation in the Fields of Energy and Communal Services (NKREKP) regarding the establishment of clear requirements for the methods and forms of interaction (electronic or paper), the order and terms of receiving and sending correspondence, and as well as requirements for the form of documents. Implementation of these recommendations will allow customers of natural gas transportation services to forecast their activities in a clear time frame and will ensure equal conditions for customers of services from countries outside the European Union with those operating on the territory of Ukraine or who are members of the EU.You may be interested in the following articles: lawyer consultation, lawyer consultation, analysis of documents, legal analysis of the situation, written consultation, verification of documents by a lawyer, lawyers, documents, lawyer's assistance online, lawyer online, legal opinion, legal opinion of a lawyer, lawyer online
AMCU emphasized that the recommendations are mandatory for review within 30 days from the moment of their adoption. Implementation of these recommendations will contribute to increasing the transparency and efficiency of the process of concluding natural gas transportation contracts, which, in turn, will strengthen the competitive environment in this area.
