- Directive 96/92, OJ 1997 L 27/20.
- Directive 98/30, OJ 1998 L 204/1.
- BGBl (FederaI Law Gazette) 1998–1, p 730; an authoritative English translation is not available.
- This replaced the old Energy Management Act dating from 1935.
- E. ON. RWE. EnBW, Vattenfall (including BEWAG and HEW).
- Distributors that wish to do so have to apply for the single buyer status. A prerequisite for the approval of any single buyer by the Ministry of Economy is that the system produces the same economic results and an equivalent market opening compared to the standard third party access system.
- Before the new EnWG entered into force in 1998, the situation in Germany was traditionally a non-market rather than a market. Large vertically integrated (ie along the value-added chain) companies had divided Germany geographically between them. This enabled them to act within their ‘claims’ virtually without competition. The GWB explicitly provided for the non-application of competition rules to the energy sector.
- Translation by the German Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office), available at www.bundeskartellamt.de/competition_act.html.
- EEG, 29 March 2000; BGBI 2000–1, p 305.
- In summary, the five states of former East Germany, comprising 40 per cent of the generation market, were favoured and protected by the lignite law.
- An unresolved issue is whether the reciprocity clause is compatible with WTO law since a different degree of market opening is no justification for import restraints under the GATT regime. In theory, this could lead to the somewhat odd situation whereby electricity, eg from Poland, could be imported more easily into Germany than electricity from France. Furthermore, the development indicates that companies from abroad tend to circumvent the reciprocity clause by acquiring German companies. Another possibility for evading the clause is first to import electricity to a German entity and then, in a legally distinct transaction, to supply. This second step does not involve electricity coming legally from abroad. The new rules on refusal of access to the grid were among the first parts of the new energy law to be tested in court. First decisions rightly show the tendency for these grounds to be interpreted narrowly.
- LG Berlin, decision of 25 July 2000, ref 16.0.749/99 Kart and 16 O 750/99 Kart; LG Berlin, decision of 27 June 2000, ref 16 O 652/99 Kart = NJWE-WettbR 2000, 270 ff = WuW DE-R 533 ff.
- OLG Dresden, decision of 8 February 2002 2001. ref U 2978/00 Kart: LG Dortmund, decision of 1 September 2000, ref 13 O 134/ 00 Kart = WuW DE-R 565 ff.
- See the ‘report of the working group on electricity network utilisation of the competition authorities of the Federation and the Länder on 1. the scope of intervention standards under competition- law for reviewing the amount of fees charged for the use of electricity access’ of 19 April 2001. An excerpt in English is available at www.bundeskartellamt.de.
- The Federal Association of German Industry (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie eV (BDI), Berlin), the Association for the Industrial Energy and Power Industry (Verband der Industriellen Energie und Kraftwirtschaft eV (VIK), Essen), and the German Electricity Association (Vereinigung Deutscher Elektrizitätswerke eV (VDEW), Frankfurt am Main).
- Similarly private agreements are the 1998 Grid Code, the 1999 Distribution Code and the 1999 Metering Code. These agreements stipulate rules on the feeding in of electricity and on the transmission in both transmission and distribution grids and on measuring methods and responsibilities respectively.
- In addition to the three well-known associations of VV I and II: the Association of System Operators at VDEW, registered association, Berlin (Verband der Netzbetreiber—VDN—beim VDEW eV, Berlin), the Federation of Regional Energy Utilities, registered association, Hanover (Arbeitsgemeinschaft regionaler Energieversorgungsunternehmen—ARE—eV), the Association of Municipal Utilities, registered association, Cologne (Verband kommunaler Unternehmen—VKU—eV, Köln).
- See report n 14 above.
- The BDI, the VIK, the Federal German Gas and Water Association (Bundesverband der deutschen Gas-und Wasserwirtschaft eV (BGW), Bonn), the Association of Municipal Utilities, registered association, Cologne (Verband kommunaler Unternehmen eV (VKU), Köln).
- www.ruhrgas.de/englisch/dienstleistungen/transport/vv/vv.pdf.
- System services comprise the actions and measures by the network operator necessary to enable third party access. They include, for instance, receipt and confirmation of periodic ad hoc gas quantity nominations and changes as well as measured values to determine the quality of gas fed into the system, scheduling, gas quantity offtake and handover, measurement and/or allocation during offtake and handover to the network operator's existing plant.
- The pipelines fall into different pipeline groups (AD); for each pipeline group there is a capacity charge. The fee (DM/year) for the agreed transport capacity is calculated by multiplying the respective capacity charge (DM/m3(n)/hr/km/a) for the relevant pipeline group by the maximum usable hourly capacity (m3(n)/hr) and the actual pipeline length (km) between the entry and exit points.
Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law
Volume 21, 2003 - Issue 2