Article 6

Member States or, where a Member State so provides, the Competent Authority shall ensure that the necessary measures are taken so that by 3 December 2014 at the latest, in the event of a disruption of the single largest gas infrastructure, the capacity of the remaining infrastructure, determined according to the N – 1 formula as provided in point 2 of Annex I, is able, without prejudice to paragraph 2 of this Article, to satisfy total gas demand of the calculated area during a day of exceptionally high gas demand occurring with a statistical probability of once in 20 years. This is without prejudice, where appropriate and necessary, to the responsibility of system operators to make the corresponding investments and to the obligations of transmission system operators as laid down in Directive 2009/73/EC and Regulation (EC) No 715/2009. The obligation to ensure that the remaining infrastructure has the capacity to satisfy total gas demand, as referred to in paragraph 1, shall also be considered to be fulfilled where the Competent Authority demonstrates in the Preventive Action Plan that a supply disruption may be sufficiently compensated for, in a timely manner, by appropriate market-based demand-side measures. For that purpose, the formula provided in point 4 of Annex I shall be used. Where appropriate, according to the risk assessment referred to in Article 9, the Competent Authorities concerned may decide that the obligation set out in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be fulfilled at a regional level, instead of at national level. In that event, joint Preventive Action Plans pursuant to Article 4(3) shall be established. Point 5 of Annex I shall apply. Each Competent Authority shall, after consulting the relevant natural gas undertakings, report to the Commission without delay any non-compliance with the obligation set out in paragraph 1 and inform the Commission of the reasons for such non-compliance. The transmission system operators shall enable permanent bi-directional capacity on all cross-border interconnections between Member States as early as possible and at the latest by 3 December 2013, except: in the case of connections to production facilities, to LNG facilities and to distribution networks; or where an exemption has been granted in accordance with Article 7. By 3 December 2013, the transmission system operators shall adapt the functioning of the transmission systems in part or as a whole so as to enable physical gas flows in both directions on cross-border interconnections. Where bi-directional capacity already exists or is under construction for a particular cross-border interconnection, the obligation referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 5 shall be deemed to be met for that interconnection except where an enhancement of capacity is requested by one or more Member States for security of supply reasons. Where such a request for enhancement is made, the procedure set out in Article 7 shall apply. Member States or, where a Member State so provides, the Competent Authority, shall ensure that, as a first step, the market is always tested in a transparent, detailed and non-discriminatory manner to assess whether the investment in infrastructure needed to fulfil the obligations set out in paragraphs 1 and 5 is required by the market. National Regulatory Authorities shall take into account the efficiently incurred costs of fulfilling the obligation set out in paragraph 1 and the costs of enabling permanent bi-directional capacity so as to grant appropriate incentives when fixing or approving, in a transparent and detailed manner, the tariffs or methodologies in accordance with Article 41(8) of Directive 2009/73/EC and Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 715/2009. In so far as an investment for enabling bi-directional capacity is not required by the market and where this investment incurs costs in more than one Member State or in one Member State for the benefit of one or more other Member States, the national regulatory authorities of all Member States concerned shall jointly decide on cost allocation before any investment decision is taken. The cost allocation shall in particular take into account the proportion of the benefits of the infrastructure investments for the increase of security of supply of the Member States concerned. Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 713/2009 shall apply. The Competent Authority shall ensure that any new transmission infrastructure contributes to the security of supply through the development of a well-connected network, including, where appropriate, by means of a sufficient number of cross-border entry and exit points according to market demand and the risks identified. The Competent Authority shall, where appropriate, assess in the risk assessment where internal bottlenecks exist and whether national entry capacity and infrastructures, in particular transmission networks, are capable of adapting the national gas flows to the scenario of the disruption of the single largest gas infrastructure identified in the risk assessment. Luxembourg, Slovenia and Sweden shall, by way of exception, not be bound by, but shall endeavour to meet, the obligation set out in paragraph 1 of this Article, while ensuring the gas supplies to protected customers in accordance with Article 8. That exception shall apply for as long as: in the case of Luxembourg: it has at least two interconnectors with other Member States, at least two different sources of supply and no gas storage facilities or an LNG facility on its territory; in the case of Slovenia: it has at least two interconnectors with other Member States, at least two different sources of supply and no gas storage facilities or an LNG facility on its territory; in the case of Sweden: it has no gas transit to other Member States on its territory, an annual gross inland gas consumption of less than 2 Mtoe and less than 5 % of total primary energy consumption from gas. Those three Member States shall ensure, in a transparent, detailed and non-discriminatory manner, regular market testing for investments in infrastructure and make public the results of those tests. The Member States referred to in the first subparagraph shall inform the Commission of any change in respect of the conditions set out in that subparagraph. The exception laid down in the first subparagraph shall cease to apply where at least one of those conditions is no longer fulfilled. By 3 December 2018, each of the Member States referred to in the first subparagraph shall transmit a report to the Commission describing the situation with respect to the respective conditions set out in that subparagraph and the prospects for the compliance with the obligation in paragraph 1, taking into account the economic impact of meeting the infrastructure standard, the results of the market testing and the gas market development and gas infrastructure projects in the region. On the basis of the report and if the respective conditions set out in the first subparagraph of this paragraph are still met, the Commission may decide that the exception set out in the first subparagraph can continue to apply for 4 more years. In the event of a positive decision, the procedure set out in this subparagraph shall be repeated after 4 years.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.