Athens, 26.11.2008
Kelemenis & Co. wins international tender of the Energy Community Secretariat in Vienna

Kelemenis & Co. is the winner of the international tender organized by the Energy Community Secretariat in Vienna for the provision of legal services towards the establishment and operation of the so-called Coordinated Auction Office in South Eastern Europe. The firm was appointed by the Secretariat to work with the national stakeholders in order to produce a "Study on the identification of legal obstacles to the establishment and operation of and the participation in a Coordinated Auction Office in South Eastern Europe". In particular, according to the Ministerial Council Decision of the Energy Community no. 2008/02, the contracting parties of the ENERGY COMMUNITY Treaty (i.e. the European Union on the one hand and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYROM, Montenegro, Serbia and the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo on the other) have taken the decision to implement Commission Decision dated 09.12.2006 amending the Annex to Regulation No. 1228/2003. According to this Annex, a so-called eighth (8th) Region has been created, which encompasses the territories of thirteen (13) parties, namely Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYROM, Montenegro, Serbia, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Italy. The creation of this 8th region has been preceded by intensive and ongoing efforts to establish a Coordinated Auction Office (CAO), which is designed to become the central institution to implement the common coordinated congestion management method and the procedure for the allocation of capacity to the market as required by the Congestion Management Guidelines.

The successful establishment of the CAO presupposes that all possible legal and administrative barriers which may arise between the parties of the 8th region will have to be firstly identified by Kelemenis & Co. The firm is expected to propose solutions to overcoming the legal barriers that will be identified in all thirteen jurisdictions. The project will commence on 1.12.2008 and is expected to be completed in May 2009.

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