Parliament adopted a bill that regulates the separation from and certification of natural gas transmission system operators. When the process of separating the transmission system is over, there will be more natural gas suppliers on the market and the consumers will be able to choose the gas supplier, as they do in the case of the Internet service or other providers, IPN reports.

Parliament said the legislative proposal belongs to the Government. Acceding to the sponsors, one of the commitments made by Moldova to the EU in the energy sector is to ensure the separation of the gas transmission system operators from vertically integrated enterprises that carry out production, distribution, storage, trading or natural gas supply activities and from any company that controls enterprises that perform such activities. The ensuring of the gas transmission system operators’ independence in accordance with the Third Energy Package will ensure the system users’ non-discriminated access to the gas transmission networks and higher competitiveness on the natural gas market of Moldova.

The document defines the mechanism for transmitting and managing transport networks given that the network owners will not sign leases with the newly designated operator. The given amendments are aimed at ensuring predictability in the regulated activity and the possibility for the new operator to plan the investments needed in the transmission system.

The bill was given a final reading and was adopted by the votes of 54 MPs.