A Gleiss Lutz team has successfully advised Nord Stream AG from Zug, Switzerland, in the proceedings of the German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) for a derogation of the Nord Stream pipeline from regulation. After pipelines between EU member states and countries outside the EU were subjected to the provisions of the German Energy Industry Act (Ener-giewirtschaftsgesetz, EnWG) in December 2019 in accordance with the amended EU Gas Directive, the Bundesnetzagentur decided on 20 May 2020 to grant a derogation from regulation for the Nord Stream pipeline. Nord Stream is a 1,224 kilometers long pipeline from Vyborg in Russia through the Baltic Sea to Lubmin near Greifswald in Germany, which forms the shortest connection between the large gas reserves in northern Russia and the European market and has already transported over 345 billion cubic meters of natural gas since the commissioning of the first pipeline string in November 2011. The derogation from regulation is granted due to the pipeline’s contribution to security of supply. The corresponding application for derogation had been submitted on 19 December 2019. In accordance with the application, the derogation from regulation applies to the section of the pipeline on German territory and is initially valid for 20 years, retroactively from the entry into force of the amended EnWG on 12 December 2019.
Gleiss Lutz regularly advises on fundamental questions of regulatory law in the energy industry and represents clients in the related administrative and court proceedings.
The following Gleiss Lutz team advised Nord Stream AG: Dr. Martin Raible (partner, energy law and competition), Dr. Jacob von Andreae (partner, energy law and public law, both lead, both Düsseldorf), Dr. Christian Köckritz (partner, European law and competition, Brussels), Dr. Lars Kindler (Düsseldorf), Kristina Müller (Berlin, both energy law and public law), Anne Verheyen (Düsseldorf), Kristina Winkelmann (Brussels, both European law and competition).
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