Gold Hill Resources Inc. (fka GULD)

[Rhubarb]

the Energy Community Agreement

http://www.seerecon.org/infrastructure/sectors/energy/

Energy Community 1

Building on the signed Memoranda of Understanding 2002 and 2003, the so-called Athens Memoranda, the European Commission – in conformity with the legal constraints of Article 300 of the EC Treaty (Treaty of Nice) - obtained a negotiating directive from the Council on 14 May 2004 to conclude a legally binding agreement having essentially the same content to the two Memoranda.

The Energy Community Treaty was signed in Athens on October 25, 2005 and entered into force on July 1, 2006.

The signature of the Energy Community Treaty means that the European Union and nine partners of South East Europe - Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria and UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo - will create the legal framework for an integrated energy market. Negotiations with Turkey are ongoing for joining the treaty at a later stage.


What does it mean?

The major commitments are:

to create a regionally integrated energy market for electricity and natural gas networks and to integrate that market into the wider EU market;

to establish common rules for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity;

to similarly establish common rules for the transmission, distribution, supply and storage of natural gas;

to establish state level national energy authorities, regulators and transmission system operators;

to establish compatible state and regional electricity and natural gas market action plans;

embryonic regional level dispute resolution mechanisms;

to open the markets in line with EU commitments but with a suitable transition period (all non-domestic markets are projected to be open by 2005);

unbundling of integrated utilities;

authorization procedures for new infrastructure that are transparent;

an anti-corruption programme;

to implement grid codes and other technical and commercial codes that are necessary for the functioning of the market; and,

regulated third party access, tariff systems that encourage trade, and technical codes necessary for the operation of a trade based regional system.

Benchmarking this process is under way. Action Plans for long term implementation of the (electricity) REM are being drafted at regional level by the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) and at national level by EuropeAid contractors on behalf of the European Commission for implementation from 2004.

If you would like further information on this programme, please contact the European Commission: [e-mail]


--------------------------------------------------------------------

Neat stuff...