Press articles and reports

The article “Legal aspects of the implementation of support mechanisms for the operation of the Swinoujscie LNG terminal ” by W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzezinski appeared in the June issue of the monthly ” Nafta-Gaz ” (No. 6/2016), published by the Publishing House of the Institute of Oil and Gas – The National Research Institute.

Despite the expansion of the gas interconnectors on its western and southern borders, Poland is still overly dependent on gas supplies from the east and at risk of disruption of supply due to the geopolitical situation. In this context, the LNG terminal in Swinoujscie is crucial for Polish energy security as a new entry point to the national transmission system (NTS) providing access to the global LNG market and offering opportunities for the diversification of gas supply sources. At the same time, the full potential of the terminal building as an instrument of Polish energy security depends upon the demand for the services of the terminal, which will be determined by, among others, the attractiveness of the price of deliveries through the terminal compared to deliveries by other entry points to the NTS.

The article presents a framework for the potential implementation of mechanisms to increase the competitiveness and availability of the LNG terminal to market participants. In addition to legislation, it considers the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Commission, to be considered for possible support mechanism implementation plans in Poland for the operation of the terminal. The article cites the example of the successful implementation of the support system for the Klaipėda LNG terminal  notified to the European Commission in 2013.

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 Act regulating in detail the procedure for REMIT reporting is Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1348/2014.

The article appearing in the magazine “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 ACER will consist of. It covers, among others, what services the Polish Power Exchange, which has already acquired the status of an RRM (Registered Reporting Mechanism), will supply and how to start reporting a transaction through this platform. The article focuses on the backloading of individual contracts, and what role ARIS will play in the reporting process.

A number of practical tips are contained in the article. It underlines the fact that some of the fundamental data is already collected by specialized entities and institutions under the provisions of European and EU legislation. These include ENTSO for Electricity, ENTSO for Gas and LNG system and storage operators, which pass on some of the fundamental data to ACER in the name of market participants.

The article “The Next Steps in the Implementation of Remit – The Reporting of Transactions in Wholesale Energy Markets and Fundamental Data” by W&W’s Tomasz Brzezinski and Anna Mathews was published in the latest issue of the bimonthly publication ” Nowa energia ” No. 4/2015.

The article from W&W’S Kamil Iwicki  covers the most important provisions of the current Regulation, and forms the conclusion that such provisions are inadequate for the present situation on the natural gas market, in particular in relation to the ever greater degree of competitiveness in the market. The present arrangements for gas supply diversification are discussed and reasons are given for why the obligations laid down in the Regulation are very difficult to implement by Polish energy companies. The article also indicates that there are further reasons why it was decided to prepare a new Regulation.

The article analyzes the changes which have necessitated the establishment of a new draft of the Regulation and examines the current problems of interpretation and application of the 2000 Regulation. The most frequent complaints in relation to the current diversification Regulation concern the difficulties of interpretation and in particular the interpretation of fundamental concepts such as “import” or “country of origin of gas” which are not defined in the 2000 Regulation or in the Energy Law. The draft Regulation is an attempt to address these ambiguities.

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.

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The article describes the effects of the functioning of the trading obligation on competition in the gas market. It also indicates the origin of these obligations, as well as the legal regulation commitments relating specifically to gas (power generators have been under a public trading obligation since 2010).

The article by W&W’s Wojciech Bigaj on gas trading obligations is published in the edited volume “Legal Conditions of Competition in the Gas Market” (ISBN 978-83-255-6723-1), edited by. B. Popowska, prof. E. Kosinski, Dr. P. Lissoni (Poznan University of Adam Mickiewicz), published by CH Beck 2015.

The edited volume is a summary of the discussions held during the National Scientific Conference -“Competition in the Gas Market. Legal Conditions.”, which was held on the 3rd and 4th March 2013 in the Faculty of Law of Poznan University of Adam Mickiewicz. The event was under the honorary patronage of the Minister of Economy, the Minister of the Treasury, the Ministry of Justice, the President of the Energy Regulatory Office, the President of the OCCP, and others. Wojciech Bigaj was a speaker at the Conference and presented a paper entitled, “The Small Energy Tripack as an instrument for the liberalization of the gas market.”

The main duties introduced by REMIT include the obligation to publically publish internal information, the prohibition of insider trading, and the imposition of non-manipulation in wholesale energy markets. Furthermore, the REMIT Implementing Regulation imposes an obligation to report transactions to the regulatory agency –  ACER, and imposes the obligation to provide basic data on the capacity and use of facilities, as well as the obligation for the registration of market participants in the register maintained by the Energy Regulatory Office (URE).

The article describes each of the above duties, giving also the penalties for non-compliance or violations. Proposals for criminal and administrative penalties were included in the draft amendment to the Energy Law to implement REMIT.

The authors also identified the REMIT competent authorities for monitoring wholesale energy markets as the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the national regulatory authority (in Poland this being the URE).

The article by Tomasz Brzezinski and Anna Mathews of W&W on the obligations imposed by REMIT for energy companies appeared in the collective work “Zarządzanie energią i teleinformatyka ZET 2015″ edited by prof. Assoc. Eng. Henry Kaproń (University of Warsaw).

The entire article is available in PDF format below.

The Amendment to the Surveying and Cartographic Act partially entered into force in July 2014 with the remainder coming into force on 1st January 2015.

The author analysis the changes to the Act and considers their current legal status: “Before the coming into force of the Amendment, survey data was acquired on the basis of a civil law contract, while the Amendment introduced a type of special license for the buyers to use the data – the buyers became licensees. A requirement for a civil contract was changed to an administration process.”

The provisions governing fees before the Amendment were the provisions of the Regulations of the Minister of Infrastructure of 19 February 2004. On charges for surveying and cartographic activities and information provision, as well as for the commissioning of maps and extracts from land registration records, the Amendment of 2014 eliminated the distinction between basic fees and operational charges. There were also changes to the regulations concerning charges.

The author indicates that the biggest weakness of the Amendment is the lack of transitional provisions. Consequently there are no regulations on how to treat the new rules in relation to civil law contracts concluded under the previous regime. It is also noted that the fees paid prior to the Amendment were under a method of calculation which has changed considerably. Some of the administrators of data – regional councils (starostwo powiatowe)- acting on behalf of the Treasury,  have considered civil contracts null and void from the date of entry into force of the Amendment, although the Amendment itself does not give any basis for this policy. Also, the Amendment does not provide for the updating of data and therefore the buyer is not able to receive updates as guaranteed in the their contract. As pointed out by the author – “At the moment, the local authority district offices are refusing to update the data on the basis of agreements for access to data and they are initiating administrative legal proceedings.”

The article discusses the legal gap created because of the absence of transitional provisions in the amended Act, taking into account, in the author’s opinion, the position of the Chief Surveyor, amongst others.

The article ” Surveying after the Amendment – Concerns and problems associated with the Amendment of the Surveying and Cartographic Act ” was published in the latest issue of the bimonthly ” Energetyka cieplna i zawodowa ” (No. 1/2015). We invite you to familiarize yourself with the contents of the article, which is available on our website in PDF form.

The paper primarily focuses on the remuneration obligations payable to the contractor in contracts concluded for a period longer than 12 months, as specified in the new paragraph 5 of the amended Article 142 of the PPL. The author argues that the changes associated with the price adjustment mechanisms of long-term contracts “can cause the greatest economic consequences for economic operators on the market.”

There already is, of course, the possibility for the ‘alignment’ of remuneration in the form of an automatic price adjustment mechanism or the opportunity to amend a contract, which may be introduced to an agreement on the basis of Article 358 (1), paragraph 2 of the “Civil Code”. However, the application of the provisions on increasing the remuneration for the contractor has, so far, proved very popular because of the difficulties of precise budgeting.

Attention is also given to the transitional provisions relating to long-term contracts which were concluded before the entry into force of the amended provisions of the PPL. These transitional provisions allow parties to an agreement to renegotiate salaries.

The paper concludes that the introduced amendments will significantly contribute to the proper development of economic operators in the energy industry.

Article Fri. “Improving market performers” was published in the latest issue of the bimonthly “Thermal energy and professional” (No. 8/2014). We encourage you to read the publication in the magazine or to download an article by Catherine Dziąćko from our website (PDF below)

“Improving Market Contractors” is published in the latest issue of the bimonthly publication “Energetyka cieplna i zawodowa” (No. 8/2014). The whole article (Polish language version) can be viewed in the publications section of our website.

The production of hydrocarbons in Poland is regulated by the Geological and Mining Law, which has recently been amended. The new regulations make it much easier for investors to conduct shale gas, among others, exploration, appraisal and exploitation. In an article co-authored by Wojciech Bigaj and Anna Mathews from the Office of W & W, the license application procedure and the step by step phases of the tender and bidding process are presented in some detail. The authors also describe the qualification procedure and what the reasons are for the existence of the relevant regulations.

The Polish legislation seeks to encourage investors to carry out further drilling, while introducing regulations concerning the distribution of profits from the exploitation of minerals between the Treasury and the upstream sector entities. At the same time, the Czech authorities are inclined towards environmental protection and are taking action on a moratorium prohibiting hydraulic fracturing. The European Union has also implemented guidelines and recommendations concerning the principles for hydrocarbons production and environmental issues.

“The legal framework for the extraction of hydrocarbons in Poland, the Czech Republic and the European Union. Analysis and comparison of selected regulations. “Appeared in the Kosciuszko Institute Report “The development of shale gas in Poland and its prospects in the Czech Republic – analysis and recommendations” (ed. I. Albrycht, no ISBN: 978-83-63712-18-1), which was developed in the framework of the project, “Shale gas in the Czech Republic – a Polish-Czech information campaign on shale gas” co-financed by the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the “Polish-Czech Forum: supporting the development of Polish-Czech relations 2014.”
The report can be downloaded in PDF format below or from the Kosciuszko Institute website: http://ik.org.pl/pl/publikacja/nr/9351/rozwoj-sektora-gazu-lupkowego-w-polsce-i-jego-perspektyw/

The article, co-authored by attorney-at-law Kamila Iwickiego, presents a summary of how natural gas is used in the electricity generation sector in Poland. The authors of the publication take, as a starting point for their deliberations, an analysis of Polish energy security in the wider EU context, with particular emphasis on the structure of natural gas supplies to Polish in recent years. A comparison is made of the structure of natural gas consumption in Poland with the trends for gas use in other EU countries According to the authors, the investment plans of energy companies show an interest in the development of gas energy, with the main barrier to development being the high gas prices. The article attempts to assess how the development of the use of natural gas in the national electricity generation sector will impact on Polish energy security.

“The Development of the gas energy sector in Poland and energy security” was published in the latest issue of the bimonthly publication ” Rynek Energii ” No. 6 (115) – 2014, (pp. 33-38).

The entire article is available in PDF format below.