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Poland to be able to dispute decisions in Nord Stream certification, says Polish expert

PGNiG’s participation in certification means that the arguments of this firm against Nord Stream 2 AG will be heard at the German regulator, editor-in-chief of the BiznesAlert.pl portal Wojciech Jakobik said

WARSAW, September 23. /TASS/. Poland’s oil and gas company PGNiG (Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo), which has been granted the right to participate in the certification proceedings for the operator of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2 AG company, will be able to provide its arguments and dispute the decisions made on the case, an expert in the field of energy and international affairs, editor-in-chief of the BiznesAlert.pl portal Wojciech Jakobik told TASS on Thursday.

"PGNiG’s participation in certification means that the arguments of this firm against Nord Stream 2 AG will be heard at the German regulator. PGNiG believes that this project threatens energy security, whereas Nord Stream 2 AG, which is fully owned by Russia’s Gazprom, cannot be an operator. If those arguments are heard at some stage of certification, it will be possible to get to changing the management model of Nord Stream 2 to that meeting the European norms and less harmful from the Polish viewpoint," he said.

"Those arguments may be used at any stage of the certification, [particularly to make sure] it is conducted correctly, to be able to dispute it in case of violations. It is worth noting that the certification carried out by the German Federal Network Agency, should be greenlighted by the European Commission," the expert added.

It was reported on Wednesday that the German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur, BNetzA) had granted Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA and its German subsidiary PGNiG Supply & Trading GmbH participation in the certification proceedings for Nord Stream 2.

The Polish side claims Nord Stream 2 AG does not meet the formal and substantive requirements for certification in the preferential model of Independent Transmission Operator (ITO), adding that a positive decision of the BNetzA would put at risk the security of supply of the EU and member-states.

The Polish side also believes that putting the pipeline into operation before obtaining a final certification decision will constitute a breach of German and EU law.

The construction of Nord Stream 2 was fully completed on September 10. Before pumping can commence, the operator of the project should submit certificates of technical norms conformance to the Stralsund mining authority. It should also be registered as an independent transport operator - the Federal network agency (Bundesnetzagentur) is to issue certification by January 8, 2022. The agency cannot prohibit gas pumping, but if it starts before the registration is finalized the operator will be fined.

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