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NATIONAL THIRD PARTY ACCESS CODE FOR NATURAL GAS PIPELINE SYSTEMS - REG 2.52

NATIONAL THIRD PARTY ACCESS CODE FOR NATURAL GAS PIPELINE SYSTEMS - REG 2.52

2.52

                A Service Provider need not submit a proposed Access Arrangement or Access Arrangement Information in accordance with section 2.2 with respect to a Covered Pipeline where:

            (a)         before the date on which this Code takes effect, the Service Provider (or, where the Service Provider does not at the relevant time yet exist, a person able to represent and bind the future Service Provider) has submitted a proposed Access Arrangement with respect to the Covered Pipeline together with the applicable Access Arrangement Information (if relevant) to the person who is under this Code the Relevant Regulator for that Covered Pipeline; and

            (b)         that Relevant Regulator, having:

                  (i)         in substance done the things it would have been required to do in relation to the proposed Access Arrangement and the applicable Access Arrangement Information submitted in accordance with section 2.2; and

                  (ii)         certified in writing that those things have been done,

                has approved the proposed Access Arrangement and Access Arrangement Information.

                In such circumstances the proposed Access Arrangement and Access Arrangement Information shall be deemed to have been accepted under this Code and to be the Access Arrangement and Access Arrangement Information with respect to the relevant Covered Pipeline for all purposes under this Code.

3.         CONTENT OF AN ACCESS ARRANGEMENT

An Access Arrangement must, as a minimum, include the elements described in section 3 of the Code. Section 3 establishes the following requirements:

Services Policy - An Access Arrangement must include a policy on the Services to be offered. The Services Policy must:

·         include a description of one or more Services which are to be offered;

·         where reasonable and practical, allow Prospective Users to obtain a Service that includes only those elements that the User wishes to be included in the Service; and

·         where reasonable and practical, allow Prospective Users to obtain a separate tariff in regard to a separate element of a Service.

Reference Tariff - An Access Arrangement must contain one or more Reference Tariffs (the Relevant Regulator may require more than one Reference Tariff when appropriate). A Reference Tariff operates as a benchmark tariff for a specific Service, in effect giving the User a right of access to the specific Service at the Reference Tariff, and giving the Service Provider the right to levy the Reference Tariff for that Service. Ordinarily a Reference Tariff must be set in accordance with the principles set out in section 8.

As an alternative it is possible to have Reference Tariffs for a new Pipeline set by a competitive tender process. Any person may conduct a competitive tender to determine Reference Tariffs for a new Pipeline (and a review date for those Reference Tariffs). The person conducting a tender must first obtain the approval of the Relevant Regulator for the tender process proposed. Before granting approval the Relevant Regulator must be satisfied, amongst other things, that the successful tenderer will be selected principally on the basis that the tender will deliver the lowest sustainable tariffs to users generally over the life of the proposed Pipeline.

After the tender process has been conducted and the successful tender selected, the person conducting the tender must submit the outcome of the process to the Relevant Regulator for the Relevant Regulator’s final approval. Before granting final approval the Relevant Regulator must be satisfied, amongst other things, that the tender process proposed was followed and that the successful tenderer was selected in accordance with the selection criteria set out in the tender approval request. Once final approval is granted the Reference Tariffs proposed by the successful tenderer will become the Reference Tariffs for the proposed Pipeline.

It is intended that by using this process, Reference Tariffs will have been set in a competitive market and will therefore naturally achieve the objectives in section 8.1.

Terms and Conditions - An Access Arrangement must include the terms and conditions on which the Service Provider will supply each Reference Service.

Capacity Management Policy - An Access Arrangement must state whether the Covered Pipeline is a Contract Carriage Pipeline or a Market Carriage Pipeline.

Trading Policy - An Access Arrangement for a Contract Carriage Pipeline must include a policy on the trading of capacity. The Trading Policy must, amongst other things, allow a User to transfer capacity:

·         without the Service Provider’s consent, if the contract between the User and the Service Provider is unaltered by the Transfer; and

·         with the Service Provider’s consent, in any other case. Consent may be withheld only on reasonable commercial or technical grounds.

Queuing Policy - An Access Arrangement must include a policy for defining the priority that Prospective Users have to negotiate for specific Capacity (a Queuing Policy).

Extensions/Expansions Policy - An Access Arrangement must include a policy setting out a method for determining whether an extension or expansion to the Covered Pipeline is or is not to be treated as part of the Covered Pipeline for the purposes of the Code.

Review Date - An Access Arrangement must include a date on or by which revisions to the Access Arrangement must be submitted and a date on which the revised Access Arrangement is intended to commence.