S.L. 545.9 Art. 7Central stockholding entity.

(1) The Government may set up a CSE, provided that no more than one CSE or any other similar body may be set up. The

Government may set up the central stockholding entity at any location within the Community. When the Government sets up a

CSE, it shall take the form of a body or service without profit objective and acting in the general interest, and it shall not be considered to be an economic operator within the meaning of these regulations.

(2) The main purpose of the CSE shall be to acquire, maintain and sell oil stocks for the purposes of these regulations, or for the purpose of complying with international agreements concerning the maintenance of oil stocks. The CSE shall be the only body or service upon which powers shall be conferred to acquire or sell specific stocks.

(3) The Minister or the CSE may, for a specified period, delegate tasks relating to the management of emergency stocks and, with the exception of sale and acquisition, of specific stocks, but only to:

(a) another Member State within which territory such stocks are located or the CSE set up by that Member State. Tasks thus delegated shall not be sub-delegated to other Member States or to CSEs set up by them;

(b) economic operators. Tasks thus delegated to economic operators shall not be sub-delegated. Where such a delegation, or any change or extension to that delegation, involves tasks relating to the management of emergency and specific stocks held in another Member State, economic operators shall be authorised in advance by the Minister or the CSE as the case may be, on whose account the stocks are held, and by all Member States within which territories the stocks will be held.

(4) The CSE shall, for the purposes of regulation 8(1) and (3), publish:

(a) on an ongoing basis, full information, broken down by product category, on the stock volumes that it may undertake to maintain for economic operators, or, where appropriate, interested CSEs: Provided that the CSE, in the case when stocks shall be held within Malta, shall have the right to make the delegation conditional upon its authorisation;

(b) at least seven months in advance, the conditions subject to which it is willing to provide services related to maintaining the stocks for economic operators. The conditions under which services may be provided, including conditions relating to scheduling, shall also be determined by the Regulator or following a competitive procedure intended to determine the best bid among operators or, where appropriate, interested central stockholding entities.

(5) The CSE shall accept such delegations under objective, transparent and non-discriminatory conditions. Payments by the operators for the services of the central stockholding entity shall not exceed the full costs of the services rendered and may not be required until the stocks are constituted. The CSE may make its acceptance of a delegation conditional upon the operator’s provision of a guarantee or some other form of security.