I. Amendment to the Energy Law Act

On 26 September 2015 the President of Poland signed the amendment to the Energy Law Act of 10 April 1997. This act introduces measures necessary for the application of Regulation no. 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and the Council of 25 October 2011 on the wholesale energy market integrity and transparency, OJ L 326, 8.12.2011 ("REMIT Regulation"). The date of publication in the Official Journal of Law has not yet been set.

The purpose of the amendment is to establish a legal framework necessary for monitoring the practices of wholesale energy market participants, as well as detecting and deterring fraudulent practices in this sector. The law act provides with a legal basis for the cooperation between the various national authorities and the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), and also determines the sanctions applicable for infringing the REMIT Regulation.

This act imposes new tasks on the President of the Energy Regulatory Office ("ERO") and endows him with new regulatory entitlements, inter alia, the obligation to keep the ACER informed of developments specified in the act, to initiate and conduct control procedures and investigatory proceedings in the event of actual or attempted market manipulation, and in the event of insider trading. The President of ERO is also entitled to impose financial penalties.

II. Registration of market participants

With respect to the REMIT Regulation, market participants shall submit the registration form to the national regulatory authority prior to entering into a transaction which is required to be reported to the ACER, in accordance with the obligation of data reporting arising from the Commission Implementing Regulation No. 1348/2014 of 17 December 2014 (OJ L 363, 18.12.2014). The reporting obligation shall apply from:

  • 7 October 2015 regarding standard contracts; this means contracts concerning a wholesale energy product admitted to trading in an organised marketplace, irrespective of whether or not the transaction actually takes place on that marketplace. In practice, in Poland this refers to energy products which are sold on the Polish Power Exchange;
  • 7 April 2016 regarding non-standard contracts; this means contracts concerning any wholesale energy product that is not a standard contract.

In connection with the above, the market participants whose business activity is based on the standard contracts are obliged to register with the ERO by 7 October 2015. It is necessary to discharge the reporting obligations within the specified time limits. The ERO has enabled registration since 17 March 2015 via the Centralised European Registry for Energy Market Participants (CEREMP).

The market participants who sell products on the wholesale energy market without the required entry into the register or who fail to report to the ACER may be penalised with a fine of PLN 10 000 to PLN 1 000 000. A fine may be imposed in administrative proceedings initiated by the President of ERO.

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that market participants (energy companies) that solely conclude contracts for the physical delivery of electricity produced by single production units with a capacity equal to or less than 10 MW or by production units with a combined capacity equal to or less than 10 MW outside the organised market places shall be relieved from the obligation (to register with the national regulatory authority).

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.