Cooperation with the Energy Community
The EU and the European Atomic Energy Union and their member states, on the one hand, and Georgia, on the other hand, signed the Association Agreement on 27 June 2014. The Agreement envisages the rapprochement with the European Union and the harmonization of the Georgian legislation with the EU legal act.The Agreement provides for the possibility of Georgia's accession to the European Energy Community.One of the important steps that Georgia has taken in the process of European integration and energy sector development is Georgia’s accession to the Energy Community Treaty. The 14th Energy Community Ministerial Council unanimously approved the accession of Georgia to the Energy Community Treaty at its meeting in Sarajevo on 14 October 2016. The Minister of Energy of Georgia signed, on behalf of Georgia, the Protocol of the Accession of Georgia to the Energy Community Treaty. The Protocol took effect on 21 April 2017, when the Parliament of Georgia ratified it. Georgia has been an observer in the organization since 2007.The negotiations on full-fledged membership of Georgia started in 2014 and the last round was held in May 2016, which was especially constructive for developing common understanding and approaches.
Harmonization of Legislation
The Protocol of the Accession of Georgia to the Energy Community Treaty and the EU/Georgia Association Agreement provides for harmonization of the Georgian legislation with the EU requirements aiming at establishing a competitive market in the energy sector. These documents directly refer to the EU directives and regulations that are binding upon Georgia. The documents in the energy sector include:
- Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 2003/54/ECb)
- Regulation (EC) No 714/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1228/2003c)
- Directive 2005/89/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006 concerning measures to safeguard security of electricity supply and infrastructure investment.
The following legal acts have been developed and enacted based on cooperation with European experts to implement the above-mentioned acts:
- Law of Georgia on Energy and Water Supply
- Law of Georgia on Encouraging Generation and Use of Energy from Renewable sources
- Law of Georgia on Energy Efficiency
- Procedures for Safe Energy Supply
The Government of Georgia approved the Concept of Energy Market Model by Decree No 246 of 16 April 2020.
