Preparation of Ukraine for certification of TSO of Ukraine completed by 90%, some important tasks left to be settled – Kopac
Director of the Energy Community Secretariat Janec Kopac has assessed Ukraine's readiness for certification of new independent gas transmission system operator (TSO of Ukraine) at 90%, adding that some important aspects are to be settled for completing the process.
Kopac said during the Fifth Ukrainian Gas Forum in Kyiv on Wednesday that this concerns the adoption of the law on unbundling in compliance with European laws, settling methodology for calculating entry-exit tariffs and approving several other legal acts.
Kopac paid separate attention to the national regulator, which status after the decision of the Constitutional Court declaring some provisions of the law on the National Commission for Energy and Housing Utilities Regulation not meeting the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine is still vague.
"You know that the Constitutional Court decided what decided. It was very unfortunate timing. So by January 1 there will be no regulator. So this needs to be corrected. And now our common task - of Ukrainian stakeholders, Secretariat, Commission and international partners – is how to create the body which will be formally under the Cabinet of Ministers, but we will have all the safeguards to proclaim it as independent. The non-independent regulator, certifying the unbundled TSO will not be recognized also by the Russian side as somebody serious," Kopac said.
Commenting on the terms of certification of the TSO, Kopac expressed the hope that the national regulator would be able to make the decision on preliminary certification within one month. He said after this decision the European Union will speed up the process as quickly as possible and then the regulator must finally approve the certification. He said that everything can be done by the end of this year.
"It [legislation] needs a lot of improvement to make it compliant with European law and also to make it functional. All is still doable… the things are really prepared, let's say by up to 90% already. There is just a political will needed to push them through," Kopac said.