Notice from the EFTA Surveillance Authority

2012/C 376/07

On 6 November 2012, the EFTA Surveillance Authority received a request pursuant to Article 30(4) of Directive 2004/17/EC. The first working day following receipt of the request is 7 November 2012.

This request, filed by the Norwegian Government, concerns activities related to the exploration for, or extraction of oil and gas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and to activities intended to enable the transportation of natural gas through upstream pipeline networks in Norway. The abovementioned Article 30 provides that Directive 2004/17/EC is not applicable when the activity in question is directly exposed to competition on markets to which access is not restricted. These conditions are evaluated solely for the purposes of Directive 2004/17/EC and are without prejudice to the application of competition rules.

The EFTA Surveillance Authority is allowed a period of three months to take a decision on this request, commencing on 7 November 2012. The period therefore expires on 7 February 2013.

The aforementioned period may, however, be extended by a maximum of three months in duly justified cases, in particular if the information provided in the request or in the documents annexed thereto is incomplete or inexact or if the facts as reported undergo any substantive changes. Any such extension shall be published. According to the second subparagraph of Article 30(6), further requests concerning the activities related to the exploration for, or extraction of oil and gas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and to activities intended to enable the transportation of natural gas through upstream pipeline networks in Norway before the expiry of the period opened in respect of this request are not considered as new procedures and are to be treated in the context of this request.