Better protection against energy market manipulation

Under the leadership of the EPP Group, negotiators from the European Parliament and the Member States have just agreed in trilogue negotiations on a revised law, entitled the "REMIT" Regulation, to improve the EU’s protection against market manipulation in the wholesale energy market.

"I am glad we found this agreement. REMIT is an important law, aimed at preventing and fighting malpractices in the energy market such as insider trading and market manipulation. The new ways of trading, new players in the market and the need to make sure that REMIT rules are up to the task of ensuring better monitoring and more transparency required an update of the scope,” says EPP Group MEP Maria da Graça Carvalho, the European Parliament's lead negotiator on the file.

"We have put more emphasis on protecting consumers from market abuse by reinforcing the role of the EU's Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) in investigating possible breaches of the rules and by strengthening the enforcement regime for cross-border cases with a European dimension. For the first time, ACER is given enforcement powers, in the field of on-site inspection decisions and requests for information as well as the withdrawal of authorisation of information platforms and registered reporting mechanisms. We have also included provisions to prevent smaller market participants from being subject to expensive and burdensome reporting obligations. This regulation is an important step forward for a better energy market,” Carvalho adds.

Today's deal still needs to be approved by the European Parliament and Member States.