News

Heartiest Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy and Joyful Christmas and all the success in the coming year – from all the team at Wawrzynowicz & Partners law firm.

W&W is a supporting partner of the third edition of the national “Energy Law” competition and conference!

The National Conference on Energy Law will be held on 19 April 2016 in the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznan. Polish and German specialists in the field of renewable energy sources have been invited to participate in the event, and a member of the W&W team will give a lecture. More information about the event will soon be available on the organizer’s website.

The Competition, aimed at students, will be held in Poznan the day after the Conference on April 20, 2016. W&W is the sponsor of the prize money for the competition, which is devoted to the subject of energy law, energy and energy policy. Participants interested in participating in the contest must write an essay (on one of the suggested topics below) and submit it by 1 February 2015 to the address provided by the organizer. The best five entrants, as assessed by the Scientific Council, will take part in the second stage of the competition.

The Scientific Council has designated the following topics for entrants to choose from:

1. The advantages and disadvantages of the legal measures adopted for the bidding at auctions electricity generated from renewable energy sources
2. The so-called. “Market power” as an element of the energy market
3. The necessary reform of the Polish mining industry from the perspective of the electricity sector
4. New legal requirements on industrial emissions in relation to energy facilities
5. The supervision of wholesale trade in energy products (“REMIT”) in light of the current legislation (for example, electricity or gas)
6. Energy planning as an instrument to ensure the fulfillment of the objectives set out in Article. 1 paragraph. 2 of the Energy Law. The participants and the form in which activities are carried out in this area
   Sanctioning entities performing activities covered by the Act
7. Energy Law as a means of ensuring practical effectiveness

W&W is once again supporting the competition devoted to energy law as organized by the Poznan branch of the European Association of Law Students at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznan.

W&W’s Tomasz Brzeziński is a speaker at the “Forecasting energy prices”workshop, which takes place today and tomorrow in the Zielna Conference Center in Warsaw. Tomasz will give a lecture entitled, “Reporting obligations for energy companies under REMIT and the Implementing Regulation”. The presentation will concern the following issues:

• A subjective and objective look at REMIT, including an explanation of the concepts of “inside information”, “basic data”, “market participant” and “wholesale energy products”;
• Formal and legal requirements, including the timing and method of implementation of the responsibilities for transaction reporting and supplying essential data to the designated Agency – the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER);
• Monitoring the implementation of obligations under REMIT and penalties for non-performance under the provisions of the draft amendment to the Energy Law.

During the workshop, experts from the energy and investment sectors will give presentations on the forecasting of energy prices for long term and short term contracts and how to forecast effectively using the appropriate analysis. The impact of the “Renewable Energy Law” on the movement of energy prices on the Polish market will also be covered as will the effect of energy price forecasting on the requirements of the market for financial instruments.

The full program for the workshop can be viewed on the organiser’s website: – http://www.trioconferences.pl/ii-prognozowanie-cen-energii/program/

Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (REMIT), which exists to improve the transparency of the wholesale electricity and gas markets, imposes numerous responsibilities on market participants. The parts of the Regulation relating to standard contracts will come into force as early as 7 October 2015 while those relating to concluding back-loaded OTC contracts will come into force on 7 April 2016.

The article, which appears in the latest issue of the bimonthly publication “Nowa energia”, focuses on the practical aspects of the implementation duties and primarily analyzes what the standard reporting contracts and basic data to be sent to the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) will consist of.

The article “The Next Steps in the Implementation of Remit – The Reporting of Transactions in Wholesale Energy Markets and Fundamental Data”, can be viewed in the Polish language under the Publications section of our website.

The workshop “Forecasting Energy Prices” is to take place at the Zielna Conference Centre in Warsaw on the 20-21 October 2015 and W&W’s Tomasz Brzezinski will deliver a lecture on reporting obligations for energy companies under the REMIT Regulation and the Implementing Regulation.

During the workshop, experts from the energy and investment sectors will give presentations on the forecasting of energy prices for long term and short term contracts and how to forecast effectively using the appropriate analysis. The impact of the “Renewable Energy Law” on the movement of energy prices on the Polish market will also be covered.
We encourage you to register for the workshop today. The registration form, with the event’s program, can be found on the website of the organizer – http://www.trioconferences.pl/wydarzenie/ii-prognozowanie-cen-energii

Lawyers from W&W have on article in the latest issue of the publication of the Chamber of Commerce for the gas sector ” Przegląd gazowniczy ” (No. 2/2015) on the new draft Hydrocarbons Law as updated in consideration of the numerous comments and opinions presented by representatives of the energy industry. The authors of the article, W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz and Katarzyna Dziąćko, present the key provisions of the bill and focus in on the purpose of the proposed regulation, which primarily is to reduce the administrative and legal barriers for investment in the hydrocarbons prospecting, exploration, exploitation and transportation sectors.

The article, “The Hydrocarbons Law – Current Status of Legislative Work”, can be viewed in the Polish language under the Publications section of our website.

Adam Wawrzynowicz and Catherine Dziąćko of Wawrzynowicz & Partners law firm will tomorrow, June 12, 2015, give a talk entitled, “The Lithuanian LNG market as an inspiration for the Polish LNG market”, as part of the “Gas Purchase” workshop to be held at the Airport Hotel, Okecie in Warsaw.

The talk will cover the legal and regulatory requirements for pursuing activities in the field of LNG sales and regasification, including tariff regulations. W&W’s experts will also highlight the principles behind the operation of the Lithuanian Klaipeda LNG terminal as an example of the possible solutions for the implementation of operations at the Polish Swinoujscie LNG terminal.

The “Gas Purchase” workshop has a program of events that will include many specialists in the gas industry, representatives of the largest Polish gas companies and lawyers specializing in this area.

We warmly invite you to attend the talks to be given by Adam Wawrzynowicz and Catherine Dziąćko – tomorrow on the 12th June, 2015 at 15.20 in the Airport Hotel, Okecie in Warsaw.

More information on the workshop can be found on the website of the workshop’s organiser:
http://www.trioconferences.pl/wydarzenie/ii-zakup-gazu

The beginning of April 2015 saw the Ministry of Economy open the long-awaited public consultation of the gas industry on the draft for a new Regulation which will repeal and replace the current Regulation of the Council of Ministers dated 24 October 2000, on the minimum level of diversification of sources of imported gas. There are high hopes for the forthcoming legal act as the existing Regulation is, in fact, considered to be one of the most important barriers to the development of a competitive natural gas market in Poland.

The article, “The draft of the new diversification Regulation” was published in the latest issue of the magazine ” Nowa Energia ” (No. 02-03 / 2015, p. 24 – 26) and the full article can be read on W&W’s website under the ‘Publications’ tab.

As part of the conference, “LNG in Poland and Europe – The New Model for the Gas Market”, Adam Wawrzynowicz, Tomasz Brzezinski and Kamil Iwicki of the Office of W & W will give talks on the regulatory and legal determinants for the importing and trading of LNG. The conference takes place at the hotel ‘Courtyard by Marriott’ at 1, ul. Zwirka i Wigury in Warsaw on the 26th May, 2015.

The talks by W&W’s  lawyers will take place during the fourth session of the conference (15.30. – 17.00). Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzezinski will present a paper on “The Challenges of the Regulatory and Legal Environment in Importing Gas to the LNG Terminal in Poland” and Kamil Iwicki will give a lecture entitled “Concessions, Tariffs and other Regulatory and Legal Aspects of the Marketing of LNG in the Polish Market”.

Participants in the conference include invited representatives from the operator and owner of the LNG terminal, from gas companies such as PGNiG SA, from energy companies, from legal and consultancy advising companies, as well as other experts.

The conference is part of the current ongoing debate on Polish energy security and part of this is the importance of the LNG terminal in Swinoujscie. During the conference “LNG in Poland and Europe. The new model for the gas market”, participants will have the opportunity to listen to lectures on the following topics:

– LNG terminals in Poland and Lithuania. The diversification of sources of gas supply in the Baltic region.
– The release of LNG exports from the US and its impact on the LNG market in the region and the world.
– The European and global LNG market. Contracts, pricing, business models, delivery.
– The LNG market in Poland. Production, marketing, potential and barriers to development.
– The Import and trade of LNG in Poland. Legal and regulatory conditions and environmental factors.

We cordially invite you to participate in the Conference and listen to the lectures from our W&W  lawyers between 15.30 – 16.30 on 26 May 2015 at the hotel ‘Courtyard by Marriott’ at 1, ul. Zwirka i Wigury in Warsaw. More information and the registration form can be found on the website of the organizer – http://www.adventure.pl/lng_2015_wstep.php

Download the conference programme here,

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