Reporting by persons professionally arranging transactions pursuant to Article 15 REMIT or section 25a(3) Energie-Control Gesetz (E-Control Act)
Article 15 REMIT defines two obligations for persons professionally arranging transactions in wholesale energy products:
- if they reasonably suspect that a transaction might breach Article 3 or 5 REMIT, they must notify the national regulatory authority without further delay, and
- they must establish and maintain effective arrangements and procedures to identify breaches of Article 3 or 5 REMIT.
In this way Article 15 REMIT, which is modelled on similar provisions of financial markets law, seeks to support regulatory authorities in monitoring markets. In financial markets law, the similar notion of a “person professionally arranging or executing transactions” is found in Article 16(2) of the Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014.
Neither REMIT itself nor its Implementing Regulation further defines the term of “persons professionally arranging transactions”. REMIT only provides indications regarding the scope of the term, being an umbrella term that encompasses both organised markets and trade matching systems.
ACER, on the other hand, has explored a definition in Guidance Note 1/2015, “The concept of PPATs (Persons professionally arranging transactions)”. It states that the term “PPATs” covers not only organised markets and trade matching systems, but also includes another open and wider category: natural and legal persons, whose qualification as PPAT must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis based on whether they constitute a “person”, act “professionally” and “arrange transactions”. Energy exchanges and brokers fall within the scope of Article 15 REMIT in any case. For further details and examples, see the ACER Guidance Note 1/2015.
In addition to the stipulations of Article 15 REMIT, section 25a(3) E-Control Act lays down for the federal level that exchanges and any other persons who professionally arrange transactions for the Austrian market must provide to E-Control all information it requires to fulfil its responsibilities and must support E-Control in executing investigations. E-Control is authorised to order the exchange and any other persons who professionally arrange transactions for the Austrian market to cease to carry out investigations or any other measures if they complicate or obstruct the investigation of a case pursuant to Article 3 or 5 REMIT.