Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/517 of 18 November 2021 amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the composition of the risk groups

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2017 concerning measures to safeguard the security of gas supply and repealing Regulation (EU) No 994/2010 ¹, and in particular Article 3(8) thereof,

Whereas:

• (1) Regional cooperation, in a spirit of solidarity, is a core principle on which the security of gas supply mechanism established by Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 is based. To make regional cooperation operational in practice, Annex I to that Regulation identifies thirteen risk groups corresponding to four main emergency gas supply corridors. For each risk group, Annex I lists the Member States that may be affected or play a role in case of supply disruption along the corridor, or both. Under Article 3(8) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1938, the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in order to update the composition of those risk groups.

• (2) New major gas infrastructures have entered into operation since the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 and several infrastructures are expected to be commissioned in the following months. Those infrastructures create new emergency supply corridors. They also have an impact on the Member States that can be affected by or contribute to addressing potential failures of the main gas supply routes.

• (3) Under Article 7(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1938, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) is to carry out a revised Union-wide simulation of gas supply and infrastructure disruption scenarios by November 2021. This simulation will take into account the evolution of the Union gas infrastructures since 2017 and its impact on the different emergency gas supply corridors. The simulation will also cover all gas infrastructures that are expected to be in operation in January 2023.

• (4) The impact of the new and upcoming gas infrastructures on the emergency gas corridors, as reflected in ENTSOG’s Union-wide simulations, justifies that the composition of the risk groups be adapted accordingly.

• (5) The impact of new gas infrastructures on the composition of some risk groups was discussed at several ordinary meetings of the Gas Coordination Group (GCG) in 2020 and 2021. The content of this act was discussed at a GCG meeting restricted to Member States representatives and ENTSOG, as an observer.

• (6) The United Kingdom ceased to be a Member State of the Union as from 1 February 2020. In the interest of legal certainty, it should be removed from the lists of Member States in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/1938.

• (7) Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 should therefore be amended accordingly

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 is replaced by the text in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 18 November 2021.

For the Commission

The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN

ANNEX

‘ANNEX 1

Regional cooperation

The risk groups of Member States that serve as the basis for risk associated cooperation as referred to in Article 3(7) are the following:

• 1. Eastern gas supply risk groups:

• (a) Ukraine: Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden;

• (b) Belarus: Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden;

• (c) Baltic Sea: Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Sweden;

• (d) North-Eastern: Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden;

• (e) Trans-Balkan: Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Romania.

• 1. North Sea gas supply risk groups:

• (a) Norway: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden;

• (b) Low-calorific gas: Belgium, Germany, France, Netherlands;

• (c) Denmark: Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden;

• (d) United Kingdom: Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands.

• 1. North African gas supply risk groups:

• (a) Algeria: Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Malta, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia;

• (b) Libya: Croatia, Italy, Malta, Austria, Slovenia.

• 1. South-East gas supply risk groups:

• (a) Southern Gas Corridor – Caspian: Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia;

• (b) Eastern Mediterranean: Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Malta.

’