CONSULTATION ON STREAMLINING OF PLANNING
AND REPORTING OBLIGATIONS AS PART OF THE
ENERGY UNION GOVERNANCE
Fields marked with * are mandatory.
What this consultation is about
The Commission's State of the Energy Union presented on 18 November 2015 states that "[t]he
Energy Union needs a reliable and transparent governance process, anchored in legislation, to make
sure that energy-related actions at European, regional, national and local level all contribute to the
Energy Union's objectives." This corresponds to similar calls from the European Council and the
European Parliament[*].
The State of the Energy Union also underlines that "[i]ntegrated national energy and climate plans,
addressing all five dimensions of the Energy Union, are necessary tools to have more strategic
planning", and that "[i]n order to track progress, a transparent monitoring system needs to be put in
place based on key indicators as well as on Member States' biannual reports concerning progress
made on their national plans". This builds further on the Commission's Communication on the Energy
Union from February 2015, which explained that a purpose of the governance process for the Energy
Union is to "streamline current planning and reporting requirements, avoiding unnecessary
administrative burden".
In this context, the present consultation seeks stakeholders' views on current planning and reporting
arrangements in the energy field, and on how these could be improved to better serve the objectives
of the Energy Union and to reduce administrative burden. An overview of existing planning and
reporting obligations in the energy sector concerning the Member States as well as the Commission
is available here:
COM planning and reporting obligations (energy field)
;
MS planning and reporting
obligations (energy field);
COM planning and reporting obligations (climate field); MS planning and
reporting obligations (climate field).
The responses to the public consultation will feed into the Commission's evaluation and fitness check
of existing planning and reporting obligations (a REFIT initiative in the Commission's 2015 Work
Programme) as well as into the Impact Assessment for the Commission's proposal(s) for streamlining
of planning and reporting in the energy field foreseen for late 2016, as announced by the State of the
Energy Union.
The consultation as well as the initiatives it will contribute to should be understood in the broader
context of the Energy Union strategy; the Commission's guidance to Member States on national plans
from 18 November 2015, and the Council's Conclusions on Energy Union governance from 26
November 2015 – which underscore the need for holistic national plans that address all five
dimensions of the Energy Union in an integrated way.
This public consultation also relates to the preparation of other initiatives to implement the Energy
Union foreseen for 2016 (notably initiatives on energy efficiency, renewable energy and electricity
market design). For other completed and ongoing public consultation processes and their outcomes,