Measures on cybersecurity

1. When establishing the preventive action plans and the emergency plans, the Member States shall consider the appropriate measures related to cybersecurity.

2. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 19 to supplement this Regulation by establishing gas sector-specific rules for the cybersecurity aspects of cross-border gas flows, including rules on common minimum requirements, planning, monitoring, reporting and crisis management.

3. For the purpose of drafting the delegated acts referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, the Commission shall work closely with the Agency, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), ENTSOG and a limited number of main stakeholders concerned, as well as entities with existing competences in cybersecurity, within their own mandate, such as Security Operation Centres (SOCs) relevant for regulated entities, and computer security incident response teams (CSIRTs), as referred to in Article 10 of Directive (EU) 2022/2555 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( *2 ) .

( *2 ) Directive (EU) 2022/2555 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union, amending Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 and Directive (EU) 2018/1972, and repealing Directive (EU) 2016/1148 (NIS 2 Directive)( OJ L 333, 27.12.2022, p. 80 ).’;"

Article 9, paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

point (e) is replaced by the following:

other preventive measures designed to address the risks identified in the risk assessment such as those relating to the need to enhance interconnections between neighbouring Member States, to further improve energy efficiency, to prevent capacity hoarding, to reduce gas demand and the possibility to diversify gas routes and sources of gas supply and the regional utilisation of existing storage and LNG capacities, if appropriate, in order to maintain gas supply to all customers as far as possible;’

the following point is added:

information on measures related to cybersecurity, as referred to in Article 8a.’

in Article 11, the following paragraph is inserted:

‘7a. By way of derogation from Article 6(1), (2) and (3), Article 6b(1), third subparagraph, point (a), Article 6c(2), second subparagraph, point (b), and Article 10(1), point (l), Member States may, exceptionally, decide to take temporary measures to reduce the non-essential gas consumption of protected customers, in particular when one of the crisis levels pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article or a regional or Union emergency pursuant to Article 12 is declared. Such temporary measures shall be limited to non-essential gas consumption and shall take into account the following elements:

the impact of a disruption on supply chains that are critical for society;

the possible negative impacts in other Member States, in particular on supply chains of downstream sectors that are critical for society;

the potential long-lasting damage to industrial installations;

the possibilities for reducing consumption and substituting products in the Union.

Such exceptional measures may be taken only after an assessment is carried out by the competent authorities with regard to the conditions to determine such non-essential volumes of gas.

As a result of measures referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the reduction of non-essential gas consumption of vulnerable customers, as defined by Member States in accordance with Article 26 of Directive (EU) 2024/1788, shall be avoided.’

in Article 12(6), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘Within three days of notification of the Commission request, the Member State or the competent authority shall modify its action and notify the Commission thereof, or shall inform the Commission of the reasons for which it disagrees with the request. In the latter case, the Commission may, within three days of being informed, amend or withdraw its request or convene the Member State or the competent authority and, where the Commission considers it to be necessary, the GCG in order to consider the issue. The Commission shall set out its detailed reasons for requesting any modification to the action. The Member State or the competent authority shall modify its action or take action in order to ensure compliance with paragraph 5 as far as technically and safely possible for the integrity of the gas system. The Member State or the competent authority shall inform the Commission of the measures adopted.’

Article 13 is amended as follows:

paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 are replaced by the following:

‘3. A solidarity measure shall be taken as a last resort and shall apply provided that the requesting Member State has:

declared an emergency under Article 11;

not been able to cover the deficit in gas supply to its solidarity protected customers despite the application of the measure referred to in Article 11(3) or, where a Member State has taken temporary measures to reduce the non-essential gas consumption of protected customers in accordance with Article 11(7a), the essential volumes of gas consumption to its solidarity protected customers;

exhausted all market-based measures (voluntary measures), all non-market-based measures (mandatory measures) and other measures contained in its emergency plan;

notified an explicit request to the Commission and to the competent authorities of all Member States with which it is connected either directly or pursuant to paragraph 2 via a third country, accompanied by a description of the implemented measures referred to in point (c) of this paragraph.

3a. The Member States which are obliged to provide solidarity pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be entitled to deduct from the solidarity offer the supplies to its solidarity protected customers or, where a Member State has taken temporary measures to reduce the non-essential gas consumption of protected customers in accordance with Article 11(7a), the supplies of the essential volumes of consumption of gas to its solidarity protected customers.

4. The Member States that receive a request for a solidarity measure shall make offers on the basis of voluntary demand-side measures as much as and for as long as possible, before resorting to non-market-based measures.

Where market-based measures prove to be insufficient for the Member State providing solidarity to cover the deficit in gas supply to solidarity protected customers in the requesting Member State, the Member State providing solidarity may introduce non-market-based measures in order to comply with the obligations laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2.

5. If there is more than one Member State that could provide solidarity to a requesting Member State, the requesting Member State shall, after consulting all Member States required to provide solidarity, seek the most advantageous offer on the basis of costs, speed of delivery, reliability and diversification of gas supplies. Where the available market-based offers prove not to be sufficient to cover the deficit in gas supply to the solidarity protected customers in the requesting Member State or, where the requesting Member State has taken temporary measures to reduce the non-essential gas consumption of protected customers in accordance with Article 11(7a), the deficit in gas supply of the essential volumes of gas consumption to its solidarity protected customers, the Member States required to provide solidarity shall be obliged to activate non-market-based measures.’

paragraph 8 is amended as follows:

in the first subparagraph, the introductory wording is replaced by the following:

‘Solidarity under this Regulation shall be provided on the basis of compensation. The Member State requesting solidarity shall promptly pay, or ensure prompt payment of, fair compensation to the Member State providing solidarity.

Where two Member States have agreed on the necessary technical and legal arrangements pursuant to paragraph 10 (solidarity agreement), such fair compensation shall cover at least:’

the second and the third subparagraphs are replaced by the following:

‘Fair compensation pursuant to the first and second subparagraphs shall include, inter alia, all reasonable costs that the Member State providing solidarity incurs from an obligation to pay compensation by virtue of fundamental rights guaranteed by Union law and by virtue of the applicable international obligations when implementing this Article and further reasonable costs incurred from payment of compensation pursuant to national compensation rules.

Member States shall adopt the necessary measures, in particular the technical, legal and financial arrangements pursuant to paragraph 10, to implement the first, second and third subparagraphs of this paragraph. Such measures may provide for the practical arrangements of prompt payment.’

the following paragraphs are inserted:

‘8a. Where two Member States have not agreed on the necessary technical, legal and financial arrangements pursuant to paragraph 10 by means of a solidarity agreement, the delivery of gas pursuant to the obligation laid down in paragraph 1 in the event of an emergency shall be subject to the conditions set out in this paragraph.

The compensation for the solidarity measure shall not exceed reasonable costs. Unless both the Member State requesting solidarity and the Member State providing solidarity agree otherwise, the compensation shall include:

the price for gas in the Member State providing solidarity;

the storage and transport costs;

litigation costs for related judicial or arbitration proceedings involving the Member State providing solidarity;

other indirect costs that are not covered by the price for gas, such as the reimbursement of financial or other damages resulting from enforced firm load shedding of customers related to the provision of solidarity.

Unless the Member State requesting solidarity and the Member State providing solidarity agree on another price, the price for the gas supplied to the Member State requesting solidarity shall correspond to the day-ahead market price in the Member State providing solidarity the day preceding the request for solidarity or the corresponding day-ahead market price at the closest accessible exchange, at the closest accessible virtual trading point, or at an agreed hub over the day preceding the request for solidarity. Compensation for the gas volumes delivered in the context of a solidarity request shall be paid directly by the Member State requesting solidarity to the Member State providing solidarity or the entity both Member States indicate in their response to the solidarity request and the confirmation of receipt and of the volume to be taken.

The Member State to which the request for a solidarity measure is addressed shall provide the solidarity measure as soon as possible and no later than the indicated delivery time for the request. A Member State may refuse to provide solidarity to a Member State requesting solidarity provided that the requested Member State demonstrates that:

it does not have enough gas for the volumes to be supplied to the solidarity protected customers; or

it does not have sufficient interconnection capacity available, as set out in Article 13(7), or gas flows are restricted through a third country.

Such refusal shall be strictly limited to the volumes of gas affected by one or both of the limitations referred to in the fourth subparagraph.

In addition to the default rules provided for in this paragraph, Member States may agree on technical arrangements and on the coordination of the provision of solidarity. This paragraph shall be without prejudice to existing arrangements for the safe and reliable operation of the gas system.

8b. Where two Member States have not agreed on the necessary technical, legal and financial arrangements pursuant to paragraph 10 by means of a solidarity agreement, the Member State requesting the application of the solidarity measures shall issue a solidarity request to another Member State, indicating at least the following information:

the contact details of the competent authority of the Member State;

where relevant, the contact details of the relevant transmission system operators of the Member State;

where relevant, the contact details of the third party acting on behalf of the Member State;

the delivery period including timing of the first possible delivery and the anticipated duration of deliveries;

the delivery and interconnection points;

the gas volume in kWh for each interconnection point;

the gas quality.

The solidarity request shall be sent simultaneously to Member States potentially being able to provide solidarity measures, to the Commission and to the crisis managers designated pursuant to Article 10(1), point (g).

The Member States receiving a solidarity request shall send a response that indicates the contact details referred to in the first subparagraph, points (a), (b) and (c), and the volume and quality that can be supplied to the interconnection points at the time requested as referred to in the first subparagraph, points (d) to (g). If the volume that can be supplied by voluntary measures is insufficient, the response shall indicate the volume resulting from possible curtailment, from the release of strategic stocks or from the application of other measures.

Solidarity requests shall be submitted at least 48 hours before the indicated delivery time for gas.

The response to solidarity requests shall be effective within 18 hours. The confirmation of the volume to be taken by the Member State requesting solidarity shall be effective within six hours of receipt of the solidarity offer and at least 24 hours before the indicated delivery time for gas. The request may be submitted for a period of one day or several days, and the response shall match the requested duration. Where there are several Member States providing solidarity and bilateral solidarity arrangements are in place with one or several of them, those arrangements shall prevail between the Member States having agreed bilaterally. The default rules provided for in this paragraph shall only be applicable in relation to the other Member States providing solidarity.

The Commission may facilitate the implementation of solidarity, in particular by means of a template accessible on a secured online platform to enable real-time transmission of requests and offers.

8c. Where a solidarity measure has been provided in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2, the final amount of the fair compensation that has been paid by the requesting Member State shall be subject to ex post control by the national regulatory authorities of the providing Member State and the requesting Member State, within three months of the end of the emergency.

Where the national regulatory authorities have not reached an agreement on the calculation of the final amount of the fair compensation, they shall inform the relevant competent authorities, the Commission and the Agency without delay. In that case, or upon a joint request from the national regulatory authorities, the Agency shall calculate the appropriate level of the fair compensation for the indirect costs occurred as a result of the provision of solidarity and provide a factual opinion within three months of the date of referral to the Agency. Before providing such factual opinion, the Agency shall consult the national regulatory authorities and the relevant competent authorities.

The three-month period referred to in the second subparagraph may be extended by an additional period of two months where further information is requested by the Agency. That additional period shall begin on the day following receipt of the complete information. The requesting Member State shall be consulted and give its opinion on the conclusion of the ex post control. Following the consultation with the requesting Member State, the authority which exercises that ex post control is entitled to require a rectification of the amount of the compensation, taking into account the opinion of the requesting Member State. The conclusions of that ex post control shall be transmitted to the Commission, which shall take them into consideration in its report on the emergency pursuant to Article 14(3).’

paragraphs 10 and 11 are replaced by the following:

‘10. The Member States shall adopt the necessary measures to ensure that gas is supplied to solidarity protected customers in the requesting Member State in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 and shall make their best endeavours to agree on technical, legal and financial arrangements. Such technical, legal and financial arrangements shall be agreed among the Member States which are directly connected or, in accordance with paragraph 2, connected via a third country, and shall be described in their respective emergency plans. Such arrangements may cover, among others, the following elements:

the operational safety of networks;

gas prices to be applied and the methodology for their setting, taking into account the impact on the functioning of the market;

the use of interconnections, including bi-directional capacity and underground gas storage;

gas volumes or the methodology for their setting;

categories of costs that will have to be covered by a fair and prompt compensation, that may include damages for curtailed industry;

an indication of the method how the fair compensation could be calculated.

The financial arrangement agreed between Member States before solidarity is requested shall contain provisions that allow for the calculation of the fair compensation of at least all relevant and reasonable costs incurred when providing solidarity and an undertaking that such compensation will be paid.

Any compensation mechanism shall provide incentives to participate in market-based solutions such as auctions and demand response mechanisms. It shall not create perverse incentives, including in financial terms, for market participants to postpone their action until non-market-based measures are applied. All compensation mechanisms or at least their summary shall be included in the emergency plans.

Where new and significant reasonable costs to be included in the fair compensation arise, as a result of judicial proceedings pursuant to paragraph 8, second subparagraph, point (c), after concluding the ex post control, the providing Member State shall inform immediately the requesting Member State. The national regulatory authorities and, where relevant, the Agency shall carry out a new ex post control pursuant to paragraph 8c. The outcome of that new ex post control is without prejudice to the obligation for a providing Member State to compensate damages to customers under national law and their right to receive a fair compensation.

11. For as long as a Member State can cover the gas consumption for its solidarity protected customers from its own production, it shall not be considered to be necessary to conclude technical, legal and financial arrangements with Member States with which it is directly connected or, in accordance with paragraph 2, via a third country, for the purpose of receiving solidarity. This shall not affect the obligation of the relevant Member State to provide solidarity to other Member States pursuant to this Article.’

paragraphs 12, 13 and 14 are deleted;

paragraph 15 is replaced by the following:

‘15. The obligations laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall cease to apply immediately after the declaration of the end of an emergency or when the Commission concludes, in accordance with Article 11(8), first subparagraph, that the declaration of an emergency is not or is no longer justified.’

the following article is inserted:

REGULATION (EU) 2024/1789 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL ANNEX I Guidelines ANNEX II Repealed Regulation with list of the successive amendments thereto ANNEX III Correlation table