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EU member states’ ambassadors meeting in the Committee of Permanent Representatives today gave a mandate to the Presidency of the Council to start negotiations with the European Parliament on an amendment to the gas directive. The proposed amendment aims to extend the application of the EU’s gas market rules to pipelines to and from third countries.

The overall objective of the proposed amendment to the gas directive is to ensure that the rules governing the EU’s internal gas market apply to gas transmission lines between a member state and a third country, up to the border of the member state’s territory and territorial sea. This will make the EU’s legal framework more consistent, enhance transparency and ensure legal certainty for both investors in gas infrastructure and users of the network.

To take account of the existing lack of specific rules applicable to pipelines between EU member states and third countries, the proposed amended directive foresees the possibility of granting derogations for existing pipelines. The negotiation mandate also foresees that technical agreements about the operation of pipelines that were concluded between transmission system operators should remain in force, provided they comply with EU law.

The negotiation mandate sets out a procedure for the negotiation of agreements between EU member states and third countries regarding the operation of a gas pipeline. The agreements could be used for example to resolve any potential incompatibilities between EU law and third country law. According to the proposal, member states wishing to enter into negotiations with a third country to conclude, amend or extend such an agreement that would have an impact on the EU’s common rules would need to notify the Commission. For the part which could have an effect on EU rules, the Commission would then authorise the member state to enter into formal negotiations.

Background and next steps

The amendment to the gas directive was proposed by the European Commission in November 2017. The European Parliament adopted its position on the file in April 2018. Following today’s agreement on the mandate, the Presidency of the Council can enter into negotiations with the European Parliament.

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Place:
Europa building, Brussels

Chair:
Eugen Orlando Teodorovici, Vice prime minister, acting minister of regional development and public administration

All times are approximate and subject to change

From +/- 08.00
Arrivals (live streaming)

+/- 09.00
Doorstep by Vice prime minister Teodorovici

09.30
Breakfast (roundtable)

10.00
Beginning of the Ecofin Council meeting
Adoption of the agenda
Adoption of non-legislative A Items

+/- 10.15
Adoption of A Items (public session)

+/- 10.20
European system of financial supervision review (public session)

+/- 10.50
Other business: Current financial services legislative proposals (public session)

+/- 11.00
Towards a more efficient and democratic decision-making in EU tax policy

Conclusions on the Fiscal Sustainability Report 2018

Recommendation on the discharge to be given to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget for 2017

Conclusions on the budget guidelines for 2020

Other business

+/- 12.30
Press conference (live streaming)

In the margins of the Council

Eurogroup meeting of 11 February

From 13.30
Arrivals (live streaming)

+/- 14.45
Doorstep of Eurogroup President Mario Centeno

15.00
Eurogroup (roundtable)

15.30
Arrivals (Inclusive EG)

16.00
Eurogroup in inclusive format (roundrable)

+/- 18.30
Press conference (live streaming)

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Having taken into account the feedback received and considering in particular the implications of a possible decision by the European Co-legislators to defer the application of the KID by certain types of investment funds beyond 2020, the ESAs decided the following:

• To not propose targeted amendments at this stage
• To initiate a more comprehensive revision of the PRIIPs Delegated Regulation to be undertaken in the course of 2019, including to launch a consultation on the draft Regulatory Technical Standards

Furthermore, the ESAs issued a Supervisory Statement  regarding the performance scenarios to promote consistent approaches and improve the protection of retail investors prior to the conclusion of the review. The ESAs consider that there is a risk that retail investors are provided with inappropriate expectations about the possible returns they may receive. Therefore, the ESAs recommend PRIIP manufacturers to include a warning in the KID to ensure that retail investors are fully aware of the limitations of the figures provided in the performance scenarios.

Background

The Key Information Document (KID) for Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) is a mandatory, three-page A4 information document to be provided to consumers before purchasing a PRIIP. PRIIPs include for example funds, structured products, unit-linked and with-profits life insurance contracts, and structured deposits.

On 1 October 2018, the ESAs wrote a letter to the European Commission expressing their concerns regarding the possibility of duplicating information requirements for investment funds from 1 January 2020 and the importance of legislative changes to avoid such a situation, including a targeted review of the PRIIPs Delegated Regulation.

Subsequently, on 8 November 2018 the ESAs published a consultation paper proposing targeted amendments that would allow the KID to be applied to all types of investment funds and to address key issues that have arisen since the implementation of the KID, in particular concerning the performance scenarios.

In parallel with the ESAs’ work, the European co-legislators also initiated discussions on legislative changes relating to the application of the KID by certain investment funds and the timing of a review of PRIIPs.  When publishing the consultation paper, ESAs stated that they would take into account the latest information regarding these political discussions when deciding upon their final proposals.

The Supervisory Statement is issued under Article 29(2) of the ESAs’ Regulations as a convergence tool to promote common supervisory approaches and practices.

The PRIIPs Regulation (No 1286/2014) defines the main rules and principles for KIDs. It is supplemented by a Delegated Regulation (2017/653) specifying the presentation and contents of the KID, which is based on Regulatory Technical Standards that the ESAs were mandated to develop.

Performance scenarios are included in the Section of the KID titled “What are the risks and what could I get in return?” They indicate how the investment could perform under various different scenarios.