Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

Austria and Bulgaria have on 27 September 2012 completed the list of EU Member States that have received a Reasoned Opinion from the European Commission for non- or incomplete transposition of Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources . The sending of a reasoned opinion is the second stage in the infringement procedure under Article 258 TFEU , and the last one before the Commission decides to refer the Member State to the Court. The press release from the Commission ( MEMO/12/708 ) does not precise which provisions of the directive the Commission estimates not being transposed . Nevertheless, it seems clear that the Commission is eager to use its powers to ensure a timely and correct implementation of the directive by the Member States in order to meet the common target of 20% of renewables in the overall energy consumption in 2020. Indeed, except Denmark, all the other Member States have received some form of infringement notice by the C...

Au lendemain de la Conférence environnementale qui s'est tenue les 14 et 15 septembre dernier, et à la veille du grand débat sur la transition énergétique annoncé pour la fin de l'année par le nouveau gouvernement, les cabinets d'avocats SIMONSEN et GOSSEMENT vous invitent à un petit-déjeuner conférence sur le thème: "L'actualité juridique de l'éolien: regards croisés" Lieu : Maison du Barreau, Paris Date : jeudi 4 octobre 2012 Horaire : accueil à 8h30, conférence de 9h à 12h . Conférence gratuite mais inscription préalable obligatoire par e-mail à: cb@simonsenlaw.no Le nombre de places est très limité afin de permettre des échanges nourris. Les invitations seront contrôlées à l'entrée.

La Norvège fait face aux défis de la modernisation de son réseau électrique et de son adaptation aux nouveaux besoins en flexibilité et interopérabilité. Le cabinet d'avocats SIMONSEN, Oslo, en collaboration avec la Chambre de Commerce Franco-Norvégienne (CCFN), vous invite à un petit déjeuner autour de ce thème. Date et heure: mercredi 3 octobre 2012 , de 8h30 à 10h . Lieu : Chambre de Commerce de Paris , Bourse de commerce - 2, rue de Viarmes - 75 001 Paris Vous pouvez télécharger l'invitation ici . Inscription : event@ccfn.no  

The European Commission will hold on 2 October 2012 a Conference on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF),  where representatives from EU institutions and Member States will discuss the CEF. The CEF aims to finance priority projects of common interest for the EU in the area of transport, energy and  telecommunications/ICT . In October 2011, the Commission decided to dedicate EUR 50 billion to the initiative, including EUR 9.1 billion for energy projects (press release IP/11/1200 ). The CEF is an instrument directly financed by the EU budget (EU's Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, presentaed on 29 June 2011) and defined in the proposal for a regulation establishing the CFI (COM(2011) 665, of 19.10.2011). Further on, private sector initiatives piloted by the EU could also be envisaged under " EU project bonds ".  These targeted investments are based on a list of priority projects , so-called Projects of Common Interests (CPI) . The list of CPI that ...

The French government holds today a two day-conference, so-called "Conférence environnementale" on the future of its environmental policy . Check the agenda and follow-up the debates on the website of the ministry ( http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/ ) or   here . This blog will comments on some of the outcomes.

Regjeringen presenterer i dag en første skisse av CO2-kompensasjonsordningen, såkalt "carbon leakage" under EU-terminologi . Denne bloggen har flere ganger kommentert utviklingen av CO2-kompensasjonsordningen på EU-nivået, og siste i forhold til endring til EU-statsstøtte reglene og endring til sektor og sub-sektor listen . Nå har tiden kommet for Norge å gjennomføre EU-regelverk (mht. EØS-avtalens forpliktelser) som følger av både reglene om EUs kvotesystemet (Direktiv 2003/87/EF) og tildeling av statsstøtte i form av kompensasjon under nye retningslinjer ( European Commission Communication on guidelines on certain state aid measures in the context of the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme post-2012 , COM(2012) 3230 final), publisert i juni 2012. I sin pressemelding ( Nr. 113/12 , 11.09.2012), legger den norske regjeringen vekt på at: - Ordningen har som formål å unngå at utslipp av klimagasser flyttes til andre land i stedet for å kuttes ...

The European Commission adopted on 17 August 2012 a decision amending the list of sectors and sub-sectors deemed to be exposed to a significant risk of carbon leakage . Based on the procedures laid down in Commission Decisions 2010/2/EU and 2011/278/EU adopted in relation to the implementation of Directive 2003/87/EC establishing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the Commission has the power to amend the list of the encompassed sectors and subsectors based on an analytical report . The sectors and subsectors selected must comply with the criteria defined in Article 10(a).14-17 of Directive 2003/87/EC . Following this assessment, the following subsectors have been added to the list : - "voiles, webs, nats, mattresses, boards and other articles of glass fibres, except woven fabrics" - "slag wool, rock wool and similar mineral wools and mixtures thereof, inbulk, sheets or rolls" The Commission Decision also amends the content of NACE 4-level doce 2614 ...

The European Commission , Directorate General for Competition, is currently  consulting Member States and stakeholders on the review of the Community guidelines on state aid for environmental protection and environmental support measures in the General Block Exemption Regulation (EC) No. 800/2008 (GBER) .  The public consultation forms part of a wider reform initiated by the Commission in 2012 . On 8 May 2012, the European Commission adopted a Communication on "EU State Aid Modernisation (SAM)" (COM(2012) 209 final). The purpose of the Communication is to pursue the continuous reform of state aids, and in particular: (1) foster growth in a strengthened, dynamic and competitive internal market (by reference to the Europe 2020 growth strategy); (2) focus enforcement on cases with the biggest impact on the internal market based on an ex-ante scrutiny, while reinforcing the Member States cooperation in state aid enforcement  ; (3) procedures , with streamlin...