No 292 - Weekly - 9 January 2009
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A single certificate for safer navigation on European inland waterways
As of 2009, vessels carrying the new European safety certificate are
allowed to navigate on all rivers in the Union, including the Rhine.
According to the new Community rules this single certificate is
delivered on technical requirements for inland waterway vessels. The
implementation of these common rules is a great step forward for the
safety of inland waterway transport in Europe.
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European Commission welcomes the European Court of Justice's decision on air passenger rights
The European Court of Justice established on 22 December that as
a general rule air carriers are obliged to pay compensation to
passengers in case of cancellations due to technical problems in the
aircraft. It ruled that a technical problem in an aircraft which leads
to the cancellation of a flight is not covered by the concept of
"extraordinary circumstances" exonerating air carriers, unless that
problem stems from events which, by their nature or origin, are not
inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier
concerned and are beyond its actual control, which would have to be
proven by the carrier.
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The Gas Coordination Group met on 9 January together with experts
from Gazprom, Naftogaz and Ukrainian administration in Brussels to
discuss the current gas crisis and to reach a common understanding
between experts of the main elements of the dispute in order to
facilitate an immediate resumption of gas supply to the EU. As the
European market has lost about 30% of its gas imports, at a time of very
low temperature, the Group underlined the importance and the necessity
for both disputing parties to resume urgently supply and transit of gas
towards the EU.
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Joint statement by Eurogas and the European Commission
In the context of the current dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz and
the reported very serious reductions of the volumes of natural gas
supplied to Europe, the European organization of natural gas industries
(Eurogas) met with Commissioner Piebalgs on 6 January to exchange
views on the latest developments and related measures. Eurogas and the
European Commission expressed their strong concerns of the impact of the
dispute on European customers and called for an immediate resumption of
the natural gas supplies to Europe, urging both parties to respect their
contractual supply and transit obligations.
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Commission adopts special measures to increase interconnection between Ireland and Britain
On 22 December, the Commission approved exemptions from rules on
regulated pricing and access for two new electricity interconnectors
between the United Kingdom and Ireland. The new high tension lines more
than double the transfer capacity between the two countries. They will
also compete with a third new interconnection which will be operated by
the Irish TSO.
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European Commission welcomes creation of ENTSO for electricity
EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs welcomed on 19 December
the creation of European Network of Transmission System Operators for
Electricity (ENTSO-E). The 42 European Transmission System Operators
responsible for running the highest voltage interconnected grid signed
an agreement to establish this new organisation which could become
the TSO organisation foreseen by the 3rd internal market package. The
package is under discussion between the Council and the Parliament in
view of its final adoption in Spring 2009. Existing associations such as
ETSO, the Union for Coordination for Transmission of Electricity (UCTE)
and Nordel will be dissolved and their tasks and functions will be moved
to the new organisation.
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In this section you will find the newest calls for submissions to public consultations in fields of energy and transport.
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| Please note that the announcement of technical reports and documents recently produced in specific energy and transport sectors can be found on the "What's New" pages of the corresponding chapters of Energy and Transport on the EUROPA website. |
This FREE weekly digest is published by :
European Commission, Directorate-General for Energy and
Transport |
