Postponement of granting green certificates, informally notified to the Competition Council

Provisions of the emergency ordinance that postpones the granting of an important part of green certificates applies from July 1^st, although the document hasn’t been notified to the European Commission. Minister for Energy Constantin Nita yesterday stated, quoted by Mediafax: “I sent the informal notification on July 17^th to the Competition council, but we will see if we should notify the entire law or only the part targeting large consumers. The notification involves a lot of work, it’s not a paper that can be made within a day”. The European Commission has sent a letter stating that Minister Constantin Nita had incorrectly stated on May 23^rd that there was an approval of the European Commission (EC) for the ordinance that postpones, for three years and a half, the granting of an important part of green certificates for renewable energy producers. “Such approval couldn’t have existed, because the ordinance amendments haven’t been pre-notified to us, as we requested”, the letter sent to the Department for Energy by the Commission’s officials in charge with competition reads. In the cited document, the EC representatives draw attention on the fact that, on May 22^nd, they clearly indicated to the Department for Energy that measures stipulated by the ordinance had to be pre-notified to the European Commission before their adoption and enforcement. It did not happen, the ordinance being adopted on June 4^th and entering into force on July 1^st.