Prior authorisation of imports and submission of relevant information
Article 5
1. Where a temporary exemption pursuant to Article 4 is requested, imports shall be subject to prior authorisation. Authorising authorities shall be provided with all information necessary to assess whether the conditions set out in Article 4 are fulfilled. 2. The information referred to in paragraph 1 shall include at least the following: (a) the date of the conclusion of the gas supply contract; (b) the duration of the gas supply contract; (c) the contracted quantities, including all upward or downward flexibility rights; (d) the identity of the parties to the gas supply contract, including, for parties registered in the Union, the Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number; (e) for LNG imports, the place of liquefaction and the port of first loading; (f) in the case of mixtures, documentation proving the quantities of natural gas that originates in or is exported, directly or indirectly, from the Russian Federation and the quantities of natural gas from other countries of origin contained in the mixture and information establishing the mixing process; (g) the delivery points, including possible flexibilities concerning delivery points; and (h) any amendment of the gas supply contract, indicating the content and the date of the amendment, with the exception of amendments which relate solely to the gas price. Where a temporary exemption under Article 4 is requested and the price of the natural gas was amended on 17 June 2025 or later, the information referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall include information on the price amendment. The information referred to in paragraph 1 shall be submitted to the authorising authority no later than one month before the entry of the natural gas into the customs territory of the Union. The same deadline shall apply to mixtures containing natural gas that originates in or is exported, directly or indirectly, from the Russian Federation. 3. Imports of natural gas, the country of production of which is not the Russian Federation, shall be subject to prior authorisation, except where those imports fall under paragraph 4. The authorising authorities in the Member State where the natural gas is to be released for free circulation shall be provided with all information necessary to establish the country of production of that natural gas, no later than 5 working days before its entry into the customs territory of the Union. 4. An exemption from the prior authorisation set out in paragraph 3 shall apply where natural gas is imported from a country which produces natural gas and has exported more than 5 bcm of natural gas to the Union in 2024, and: (a) has prohibited the import of natural gas that originates in or is exported, directly or indirectly, from the Russian Federation or is applying other restrictive measures concerning such gas; or (b) has no gas infrastructure in place which allows it to import LNG or pipeline gas. No later than 5 working days after the date of entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission shall, by means of an implementing decision, draw up the list of countries that fulfil the conditions set out in the first subparagraph. The Commission shall monitor whether the conditions set out in the first subparagraph of this paragraph continue to be fulfilled, and shall update the list accordingly and without undue delay on the basis of the information provided by authorising authorities or, where applicable, customs authorities and by Union bodies pursuant to Article 7(2). The Commission may, by means of an implementing decision, revoke the exemption from prior authorisation set out in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, where authorising authorities or, where applicable, customs authorities identify one or more cases of circumvention of the prohibitions set out in Article 3 by exporters from a country as referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph or where the Commission has reasons to assume that authorities from exporting countries do not appropriately intervene against practices of circumvention. 5. Authorising authorities, customs authorities and other authorities involved in the monitoring referred to in Article 6 and 7 may, where they deem the information provided under the prior authorisation procedure to be insufficient to assess whether the authorisation is to be granted, request more detailed information. They may also rely on information from other sources. Authorising authorities may, in particular, require the submission of the text of certain provisions of the gas supply contract in full or the entire text of the gas supply contract, except for price information, in particular where certain contractual provisions are interrelated, or where the full knowledge of the formulation of the contractual provisions is crucial for the assessment. Where the information provided is not conclusive, the customs authorities shall refuse the release for free circulation of the relevant goods. The Commission shall, in close cooperation with authorising authorities and, where applicable, customs authorities, publish guidance on further details concerning the prior authorisation procedure and adequate types of documents and evidence to be submitted. 6. Authorising authorities and customs authorities shall verify the evidence submitted to establish the country of production, and, where appropriate, request further information, which may include but is not limited to upstream delivery documentation, such as publicly available satellite tracking of LNG cargoes or tracking information from the European Maritime Safety Agency. 7. Natural gas to be imported into the Union via borders or interconnectors or interconnection points between the Union and the Russian Federation or Belarus, or via pipelines which connect the Russian Federation with the Union and are running through third countries without having entry points between the Russian Federation and the Union, shall be presumed to be exported, directly or indirectly, from the Russian Federation. 8. Natural gas to be imported into the Union via the interconnection point Strandzha 1 shall be presumed to be exported, directly or indirectly, from the Russian Federation, unless unambiguous evidence establishing that the country of production of the natural gas is not the Russian Federation is provided to the authorising authorities no later than 7 working days before the entry of that gas into the customs territory of the Union. 9. Where changes relating to gas infrastructure or trading patterns lead to a situation where interconnection points other than Strandzha 1 link the Union to pipeline systems transporting significant volumes of natural gas that originates in or is exported, directly or indirectly, from the Russian Federation, paragraph 8 shall apply mutatis mutandis to natural gas to be imported via those interconnection points. The Commission shall identify the relevant interconnection points by means of a Commission implementing decision. 10. Where natural gas is transported through the Union from third country to third country under a transit procedure in accordance with the Union Customs Code, including for the purpose of storage under customs warehousing rules, authorising authorities and, where applicable, customs authorities shall be informed no later than 5 working days before the planned transit about: (a) the country of production of the natural gas to be transported under a transit procedure, unless such information is not available; (b) the planned or actual nomination schedules specifying volume, timing, and entry and exit points of the gas in transit, with daily granularity where applicable; (c) volumes and delivery points in the gas supply contracts; and (d) the contract between the seller or buyer or any intermediary entity and the relevant Transmission System Operators in the Union, where applicable. Authorising authorities shall verify the consistency of the data and, where applicable, share the information received with customs authorities without delay. 11. Where operators store natural gas that originates in or is exported, directly or indirectly, from the Russian Federation in temporary storage or under a transit or customs warehousing procedure under the Union Customs Code on Union territory, Member States shall have appropriate monitoring and enforcement mechanisms in place to ensure that the use of Union storage by third countries does not pose any risk to national or regional security of supply or to the fulfilment of the storage obligations provided for in Articles 6a to 6d of Regulation (EU) 2017/1938, and provide relevant information to the Commission.