Countries would be able to exempt companies from the rules on energy security grounds, even before major disruption occurs, under draft guidelines seen by POLITICO.
Ben Munster
But in response to fierce opposition from industry, member countries and the U.S. government, the Commission is now floating a more relaxed approach to enforcement of the rules.
Under the draft recommendations, companies would be allowed exemptions under three crisis conditions outlined in the EU’s security of supply regulation — including the “early warning” level, which can be triggered before any real disruption occurs.
The recommendations emphasize that authorities can suspend or reduce fines on a case-by-case basis, citing a wide range of mitigating factors, including the availability of cargoes, ship terminal capacity, the ability of countries to meet EU oil stockpiling requirements, and a range of others, left to the broad discretion of member countries.
The EU executive has repeatedly ruled out changing the rules themselves, and the recommendations — which are set to be presented to countries on Monday, and are subject to change — instead take advantage of broad wording in the original legislation to keep the rules intact while highlighting flexibilities.
