S.L. 545.12 чл. 13Unbundling of storage system operators.

(1) A storage system operator which is part of vertically integrated undertakings shall be independent at least in terms of its legal form, organization and decision making from other activities not relating to distribution and storage. This regulation shall apply only to storage facilities that are technically and, or economically necessary for providing efficient access to the system for the supply of customers pursuant to regulation 23.

(2) In order to ensure the independence of the storage system operator referred to in sub-regulation (1), the following minimum criteria shall apply:

(a) persons responsible for the management of the storage system operator shall not participate in company structures of the integrated natural gas undertaking responsible, directly or indirectly, for the day-to-day operation of the production and supply of natural gas;

(b) appropriate measures shall be taken to ensure that the professional interests of persons responsible for the management of the storage system operator are taken into account in a manner that ensures that they are capable of acting independently;

(c) the storage system operator shall have effective decision-making rights, independent from the integrated natural gas undertaking, with respect to assets necessary to operate, maintain or develop the storage facilities. This shall not preclude the existence of appropriate coordination mechanisms to ensure that the economic and management supervision rights of the parent company in respect of return on assets regulated indirectly in accordance with regulation 29(4) in a subsidiary company are protected. In particular, this shall enable the parent company to approve the annual financial plan, or any equivalent instrument, of the storage system operator and to set global limits on the levels of indebtedness of its subsidiary company. It shall not permit the parent company to give instructions regarding day-to-day operations, nor with respect to individual decisions concerning the construction or upgrading of storage facilities, that do not exceed the terms of the approved financial plan, or any equivalent instrument; and

(d) the storage system operator shall establish a compliance programme, which sets out measures taken to ensure that discriminatory conduct is excluded, and ensure that observance of it is adequately monitored. The compliance programme shall set out the specific obligations of employees to meet those objectives. An annual report, setting out the measures taken, shall be submitted by the person or body responsible for monitoring the compliance programme to the Regulator and shall be published.