To better protect the wholesale energy market of the European Union (EU) against manipulation, the European Council (EC) adopted a new regulation to reinforce market surveillance and ensure open and fair competition.
The new regulation, called REMIT II, empowers the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) to investigate cases with a cross-border dimension. It creates clearer and stricter requirements for EU-market participants residing in a third country. ACER will also be able to make decisions regarding on-site inspections, requests for information, and authorizations or withdrawal of authorizations of inside information platforms and registered reporting mechanisms. In addition, ACER will have the power to impose periodic penalty payments to ensure compliance with on-site inspection decisions and requests for information. At the same time, the power to impose fines for infringements or breaches of the prohibitions or substantive obligations included in the regulation will remain in the hands of the member states.
Since the new regulation replaces the EU Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency No 1227/2011, known as REMIT, Ukraine, as the EU candidate country, will now have to work on a comprehensive and complete transposition and implementation of the European REMIT II Regulation in Ukraine’s legal framework. This is critically important for the full integration of Ukraine’s energy markets with the European ones. The introduction of REMIT II provisions in Ukraine will enable better and more effective regulation of wholesale energy markets, deterring potential violators from committing abuses in the future, and ultimately protecting the interests of both bona fide market participants and end consumers.