Notice concerning a request in accordance with Article 30 of Directive 2004/17/EC

Request from a contracting entity

2009/C 255/09

On 15 October 2009 the Commission received a request in accordance with Article 30(5) of Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors (1). The first working day following receipt of the request is 16 October 2009.

That request, from Shell U.K. Limited, concerns exploration for and extraction of oil and gas in England, Scotland and Wales (that is, the United Kingdom excluding Northern Ireland). Article 30 provides that Directive 2004/17/EC is not applicable when the activity in question is directly exposed to competition in markets to which access is not restricted. Those conditions are evaluated solely for the purposes of Directive 2004/17/EC and are without prejudice to the application of competition rules.

The Commission has a period of three months to take a decision on this request, starting on the working day referred to above. The period therefore ends on 16 January 2010.

That period may be extended by three months. Any such extension must be published.

In accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 30(6), further requests concerning exploration for and extraction of oil and gas in the United Kingdom excluding Northern Ireland submitted before the expiry of the period opened in respect of this request are not to be considered as new procedures and are to be treated in the context of this request.

(1)  OJ L 134, 30.4.2004, p. 1.