The REMIT Regulation (EU Regulation 1227/2011 of 25 October 2011) requires market players to register with a national regulatory authority (NRA) before carrying out a transaction to be reported to ACER (see Article 9(4) of REMIT). On this basis, NRAs must establish national registries whose information is transmitted to ACER, so that ACER can establish a European register of market players (see Article 9(3) of REMIT).
After registering with the NRA, the market player receives a unique code (known as the ACER code) which serves as a reference for the transmission of data to ACER under the Regulation (see Article 8).
The CREG is the designated NRA for Belgium.
It is important to note that the registration of players with the European ACER registry does not in any way constitute an authorisation or licence to carry out transactions on the wholesale
energy trading markets, but is a necessary condition for carrying out these transactions.
Where to register?
Market players must register in Belgium with the CREG. To this end, the CREG uses the CEREMP platform developed by ACER in collaboration with the various NRAs for the use of market players in order to fulfil their registration obligation required by REMIT.
Who must register?
Registration concerns :
- all market players who carry out transactions or issue orders that must be reported to ACER under Article 8 of the REMIT Regulation
- consumers with a consumption capacity of more than 600 GWh/year per site.
- entities involved in intra-group transactions
- the entities concerned by balancing contracts for electricity and gas
Which contracts are to be declared?
The list of contracts that must be declared to ACER is defined by article 3 of the REMIT implementing regulation (n°1348/2014) and groups the contracts into 2 distinct categories of wholesale energy trading products:
- contracts relating to the supply of electricity or natural gas with delivery within the Union:
- intraday contracts for the supply of electricity or natural gas where the place of delivery is within the Union, irrespective of where and how they are negotiated, in particular whether they are negotiated by auction or continuously;
- contracts for the next working day for the supply of electricity or natural gas where the place of supply is within the Union, irrespective of where and how they are negotiated, in particular whether they are negotiated by auction or continuously;
- contracts for the second working day for the supply of electricity or natural gas where the place of supply is situated within the Union, irrespective of the place and manner in which they are negotiated, in particular whether they are negotiated by auction or continuously;
- weekend contracts for the supply of electricity or natural gas where the place of supply is situated within the Union, irrespective of the place and manner in which they are negotiated, in particular whether negotiated by auction or continuously;
- contracts for the supply of electricity or natural gas for the day prior to performance where the place of supply is situated within the Union, irrespective of the place and manner in which they are negotiated, in particular whether negotiated by auction or continuously;
- other contracts for the supply of electricity or natural gas where the delivery period exceeds two days where the place of supply is situated within the Union, irrespective of the place and manner in which they are negotiated, in particular whether negotiated by auction or continuously;
- contracts for the supply of electricity or natural gas to a consumption unit with a technical capacity to consume 600 GWh/year or more;
- options, futures, financial exchanges and other derivatives of contracts relating to electricity or natural gas produced, traded or delivered in the Union;
- contracts relating to the transmission of electricity or gas within the Union :
- contracts relating to the transmission of electricity or natural gas within the Union between two or more locations or contracts concluded following the explicit allocation of primary capacity by or on behalf of the TSO, specifying physical or financial rights or obligations;
- contracts concerning the transmission of electricity or natural gas within the Union between two or more locations or contracts concluded between market participants on secondary markets, specifying the physical or financial rights or obligations, including the resale and transfer of such contracts;
- options, forward transactions, financial exchanges and other derivatives of contracts relating to the transmission of electricity or natural gas within the Union.
The list of contracts to be declared at ACER's request is defined by Article 4 of the REMIT Implementing Regulation (n°1348/2014) :
- intra-group contracts;
- contracts for the physical delivery of electricity produced by a single generating unit with a capacity of 10 MW or less or by generating units with a combined capacity of 10 MW or less;
- contracts for the physical delivery of natural gas produced by a single natural gas production facility with a capacity of 20 MW or less;
- contracts for balancing services for electricity and natural gas.
On the other hand, only contracts concerning electricity and gas production entities with a capacity equal to or less than 10 MW and 20 MW respectively are not required to register (see Articles 4 and 11 of the implementing acts).
There are two important remarks to be noted with regard to registration:
- Market players must register individually, i.e. several entities in the same group must register separately if they carry out transactions that must be communicated to ACER. Thus, all market players covered by Article 8 of the REMIT Regulation must register with their NRA, even if another entity is itself already registered or in the process of registration.
- A market player may authorise a third party to carry out the registration on its behalf. In this case, the NRA concerned may require the third party to provide evidence signed by the market player.
Who to register with?
Market players register with the NRA of the Member State in which they are established or resident even if they carry out an activity in another Member State. If they are neither established nor resident in the Union, they register with the Member State in which they carry out a market activity. In Belgium, players must register with the CREG.
The NRAs' main task is to check the completeness of the information provided by the players when they register and to forward it to ACER (see Article 9(3) of REMIT).
What information must be filled in?
ACER's decision of 26 June 2012 concerning the format of the register specifies the content of the information to be provided by each market player:
Section 1: General information relating to the market player as well as the different codes of the market player (EIC code, BIC code, LEI code, GS1 code) when they exist ;
Section 2: Individual information concerning the natural persons mandated by the market participant (trading manager, operational decisions manager, communication contact);
Section 3: Information relating to the ultimate controlling shareholder(s);
Section 4: Information relating to the group structure (related market participants: parent company, subsidiary, other);
Section 5: Information relating to any parties delegated to collect data from ACER on the player.
When to register?
According to Article 9(4) of REMIT, market participants must register before the start of data transmission to ACER (i.e. within three months of the entry into force of the implementing acts). In the case of Belgium, market players can start registering with the CREG from March 2015.
Registration will be carried out in three stages :
Firstly, market players will fill in the information relating to sections 1, 2 and 3 and will be able to indicate whether they wish to register as a data collection entity ("Registered Reporting Mechanisms" or "RRM") for their own account in section 5. This registration will enable them to obtain their ACER code. At the same time, the RRMs will proceed with their own registration with ACER.
Once ACER has communicated the list of registered MRAs, the actors will be able to finalize the entry of section 5 by designating their delegated MRA(s).
Finally, once ACER's publication of part of the European register is effective, the actors will be invited to transmit the information relating to section 4 (group structure and related companies) and thus finalise their registration.
Given the interdependence of these different steps, it is strongly recommended that market players fill in sections 1, 2, 3 and 5 as soon as possible.
How do I update registry information?
In the event of a change in the information provided at the time of registration, market players are required to promptly communicate updates to the NRA of the information concerned. The changes will then be transferred by the national regulatory authority to ACER.