The European Commission informed on 11 December 2012 that it is suspecting the operator of the Romanian power exchange, OPCOM S.A., of anti-competitive behaviour. The Commission is also investigating the Transmission System Operator (TSO) CNTEE Transelectrica S.A., OPCOM's parent company. The Commission fears that OPCOM is abusing its dominant position, in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), resulting in discrimination against companies on the grounds of nationality or place establishment.
The main requirement which concerns the Commission is an obligation, for all participants to the spot markets on the power exchange, to hold a VAT registration number in Romania. In practice, this obliges the interested market participants to establish themselves in Romania in order to trade on the power exchange. Because this requirement represents an additional burden for non-Romanian traders, it may affect trade between Member States and constitute an abuse of dominant position resulting from OPCOM's behaviour. OPCOM is the only power exchange present in Romania. Earlier this year, Romania has passed a new Energy law which contains an obligation to trade on the power exchange, resulting in a system of mandatory power exchange, challenging the existence of bilateral power agreements.
The European Commission has been more traditionally investigating anti-competitive behaviours resulting from cooperation between market participants, but here it is the operator of the power exchange itself that is investigated as well as its parent company, the TSO. Certainly an interesting case to follow with possible consequences for other market operators in Europe if they have adopted the same VAT-requirements.
References: European Commission, press release IP/12/1355 of 11.12.2012. Case nr. 39984 Romanian Power Exchange - OPCOM
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