Legal and economic aspects of ownership unbundling in the EU

摘要

The progress of creating an internal market for energy has not gone far enough for the European Commission. According to the communication 'Prospects for the internal electricity and gas market', the final report on the so-called sector inquiry and the communication 'An Energy Policy for Europe', all published on 10 January 2007, in particular non-discriminatory access to the electricity and gas networks (as pre-requisite for competition in the energy networks) is still not sufficiently secured. Perceived as one of the main obstacles is the 'systemic conflict of interest inherent in the vertical integration of supply and network activities', namely the preference of group companies on the one hand and the lack of willingness to invest for fear of increased competition on the other.