The Agency for the Cooperation of European Regulators (ACER) has published the first of two consultations on the regulation on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (REMIT). The consultation seeks views on the format the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) should adopt when transmitting information about market participants to ACER. With the information sent by each of the NRAs, ACER will establish an EU-wide register of market participants entering into transactions of the type that need to be reported to ACER.
According to REMIT,
Market participants entering into transactions which are required to be reported to [ACER] in accordance with Article 8(1) shall register with the national regulatory authority in the Member State in which they are established or resident or, if they are not established or resident in the Union, in a Member State in which they are active.
Registration is of great importance as
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 Agency in accordance with Article 8(1).
ACER states that having a “robust and high quality” registration system is integral to the transparency and integrity of the wholesale energy market.
The consultation focuses on the following issues:
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The content of the registration format
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The registration process and updating the information on market participants
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The publication of the European register
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The unique identifier needed to identify market participants to each transaction
In the consultation, ACER seeks views on the information that each market participant will have to provide when registering with an NRA, and whether or not information should be made publically available. The information each market participant will have to supply includes the following:
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Basic information, including the participant’s legal name and form
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Country-relevant information, including the entity’s registration number in any local trade registers
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Corporate structure information
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Contact information
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Information on the relationship with third parties reporting on behalf of the market participant
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Systems information, namely a code that uniquely identifies the market participant
The final REMIT registration format shall be published on 29 June 2012.
Those intending to respond to the first of ACER’s consultations have until 21 May 2012. A full list of issues raised by the consultation can be found at the end of the consultation document. The second consultation is due to run between June and July 2012.
Separately, in December 2011, ACER published its first piece of non-binding guidance on the definitions found in REMIT, which considered what ACER would classify as market manipulation and insider trading. In mid-2012, ACER will publish the second of its non-binding guidance. What provisions will be considered by this guidance is not yet known.