Energy (all)

Recent Articles

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  09/04/2024

  England and Wales

  Temporary ban on Environmental Permits for New Energy from Waste Plants in England

  On 4th April 2024 Defra issued a direction to the Environment Agency placing a temporary ban on the issue of any new Environmental Permits for Energy from Waste Facilities (EfW) in England.The direction issued under regulation 62 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, temporarily pauses the determination of environmental permits for new waste incineration facilities, including Energy from Waste and Advanced Thermal Treatment. The direction applies to proposed developments that do not yet hold an environmental permit for waste incineration, regardless of whether they...

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  09/04/2024

  Europe

  The sum of parts: Registered design for segments of towers found valid by General Court

  BackgroundTA Towers ApS (“TA Towers”), a company based in Denmark, is the holder of the below registered Community design relating to goods for building materials, specifically, ‘building materials for a windmill tower’ (the “RCD”): On 3 September 2019, the intervener, Wobben Properties GmbH (Wobben) filed an application for a declaration of invalidity of the RCD. Wobben claimed that:the contested design lacked novelty,it did not have individual character, andthe features of its appearance were solely dictated...

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  09/04/2024

  United Kingdom

  Core fuel sector resilience in the UK: the role of Part 12 of the Energy Act 2023

  On 11 January 2024, a new set of requirements came into force, focussed on the downstream transport fuel industry, and designed to ensure core fuel sector resilience in the UK, in particular that (i) economic activity in the UK is not adversely affected by disruptions to core fuel sector activities; and (ii) the risk of emergencies affecting fuel supplies is reduced. It is important that those companies falling within the scope of the new requirements carefully ensure compliance, since failure to do so may attract criminal sanctions.The new requirements are contained in Part 12 (sections 267 to...

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  08/04/2024

  Hungary

  Hungary proposes ex-ante competition tool to regulate essential companies

  On 2 April 2024, the Hungarian Ministry of Justice submitted an omnibus act to the Hungarian parliament proposing the amendment of several Hungarian laws, including the Competition Act. This Proposal’s most noteworthy element is – based on the German example – expanding the Hungarian Competition Authority’s (HCA) toolbox by introducing a new ex-ante regime enabling the HCA to impose obligations on certain companies without first having to demonstrate a violation of the law.This following article summarises the Proposal’s new rules, potential consequences and next steps.PROPOSED...

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  08/04/2024

  Ukraine

  Ukraine discontinues War and Sanctions Portal

  Following a governmental discussion on 19 March 2024, the Ukrainian government announced its decision to shut down a sanctions-related database maintained by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP).This database, the “War & Sanction Portal”, was created in the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine as part of the implementation of the sanctions plan against Russia (i.e. the Individual Sanctions Roadmap) of the Yermak-McFaul Sanctions Group.Starting with the "International Sponsors of War" section, the Portal was expanded to include additional segments...

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  03/04/2024

  Bulgaria

  Bulgaria supports wind and storage projects with New Grid Connection Ordinance

  Following the recent legislative amendments in the Energy Act and the Energy from Renewable Sources Act of 2023 and 2024, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission adopted a new Ordinance No. 6 on the connection of energy sites to the grids of 28 March 2024 (the “New Ordinance”).The changes in the New Ordinance mainly relate to: (i) introduction of new rules for grid connection rules of storage facilities; (ii) amendments of the current grid connection procedure for RES producers such as securing a grid connection opinion solely on the grounds of in rem rights, removal of the firm...

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