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Contractual Relations in Gas Supply and Issues of Improving their Regulatory Framework
 
PIIS231243500022352-5-1
DOI10.18254/S23124350021645-1
Publication type Article
Status Published
Authors
Lyubov I. Shevchenko 
Affiliation: Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MGIMO University)
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow
Journal nameEnergy law forum
EditionIssue 3
Pages12-16
Abstract

The reforms carried out in the Russian energy industry have led to some intensification of legislative work in this direction, the emergence of a number of new regulations that establish the basis for contractual regulation of relations for the supply of consumers with energy and energy resources. At the same time, the regulation of contractual relations in this most important area of the national economy requires significant improvement, since the prescriptions of regulations regarding the application of contractual structures designed to mediate relations for the movement of natural resources in energy markets do not always have the necessary clarity and certainty, which creates difficulties in their implementation in practice. The applicability of individual agreements mediating relations on energy supply, their legal nature, content, correlation with each other, is the subject of discussion among scientists in the science of energy law. Under these conditions, it is necessary to have a more thoughtful legislative consolidation of contracts that are most acceptable and effective in supplying consumers with energy and energy resources, and to overcome contradictions in their regulation. Scientific developments on these issues are intended to serve as a necessary prerequisite for the further development and improvement of the legal and contractual regulation of energy relations. This article is devoted to the analysis of contractual relations in gas supply in order to determine a more effective mechanism for using the regulatory potential of the contract in the most important area of the fuel and energy complex.

Keywordsenergy law, contractual regulation, contractual relations in gas supply
Received26.06.2022
Publication date30.09.2022
Number of characters19029
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1 The need to further enhance the role of contracts in the modern economy, to expand the scope of contractual regulation as an independent legal way of organizing specific economic relationships, existing along with their regulatory legal regulation, is indicated by scientists who study relations in various spheres of economic activity. However, it should be noted that a single regulatory model cannot be established for each industry, as well as the same type of contractual regulation can be applied. In all cases, it is necessary to search for an optimal combination of mechanisms of state and contractual regulation. This is especially typical for the fuel and energy complex of the economy, where in order to choose the most effective regulatory instruments (including contractual structures), researchers need to conduct a detailed analysis of the specifics of the functioning of a particular energy market and, accordingly, the specifics of the property relations that develop on the basis thereon.
2 Gas supply, as the most important area of the fuel and energy complex (FEC) of Russia, includes various activities, ranging from the formation of a fund of explored gas fields, its production, transportation through main gas pipelines and gas supply directly to consumers using it as a fuel or energy resource. The implementation of those activities is ensured by their legal regulation, a number of laws, other legal acts, as well as through contractual regulation, which involves the most complete and effective use of the regulatory potential of the contract.
3 In the Soviet period (1970 to 1980), the regulation of relations in gas supply, their transportation through main pipelines was carried out at the level of departmental regulations: by resolutions of the State Arbitration Court under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, as well as the State Supply Committee of the USSR. The subsequent updating of the regulatory framework of relations in gas supply is mainly related to Russia’s transition to a market-based management system and was aimed at achieving the following goals: to lay the legal foundations for the creation and functioning of the gas market in Russia, to consolidate the methods of state regulation and contractual structures used in gas supply. At the same time, the current regulatory framework for contractual relations on gas supply is not of a systemic nature; regulatory prescriptions in this part are often contradictory, requiring further improvement.
4 The provision contained in Article 548(2) of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, whereby priority in regulating relations with gas supply is given to the norms of special regulations, is of fundamental importance for the formation of the regulatory framework for gas supply. At present, the most important special legal acts regulating relations in gas supply include Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 69-FZ, dated August 31, 1999 (as amended by the Federal Law dated April 5, 2013), “On Gas Supply in the Russian Federation”, as well as a number of resolutions of the Russian Government, i.e., No. 162 dated February 5, 1998 (as subsequently amended, including on March 19, 2020) “On Approval of the Rules for Gas Supply in the Russian Federation”; No. 317 dated May 17, 2002 (as subsequently amended on August 8, 2013) “On Approval of the Rules for the Use of Gas and the Provision of Gas Supply Services in the Russian Federation”; No. 534 dated September 2, 2006 “On Conducting an Experiment for the Sale of Gas on an Electronic Trading Platform”; No. 1370 dated November 24, 1998 (as subsequently amended) “On Approval of the Regulations on Ensuring Organizations’ Access to Local Gas Distribution Networks”; No. 858 dated July 14, 1997 “On Ensuring Access of Independent Entities to the Gas Transmission System of Open Joint Stock Company Gazprom”.
5 The current laws refer to the main contractual form mediating gas supply relations a supply contract entered into between suppliers and consumers in accordance with the requirements of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, federal laws and other regulations (Article 18 of the Federal Law on Gas Supply and Clause 5 of the Gas Supply Rules). The above-mentioned norms indicated that the gas supply contract must comply with the requirements of the regulatory requirements contained in paragraph 3 of Chapter 30 of the Civil Code, which regulates contractual relations on supplies. At the same time, in the future, the indication of compliance of the gas supply contract with the requirements of the norms specified in paragraph 3 of Chapter 30 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation was excluded (by Decree of the Russian Government No. 305 dated March 19, 2020).
6 Along with this, the legislation specifies the use of a gas transportation agreement in gas supply. According to Clause 20 of the Gas Supply Rules, if the supplier does not have the possibility of direct gas supply to the buyer, the supply contract determines the party concluding a gas transportation agreement with gas transportation and/or gas distribution entities. Thus, if the supplier does not have the possibility of direct gas delivery, the parties to the supply contract determine which of them enters into a gas transportation agreement. It should be taken into account that the gas distribution networks may also belong to the buyer, in which case gas transportation services are not provided thereto, and, therefore, the relations between the parties concerned are determined only by the gas supply contract, including its transportation through the gas pipeline, which greatly complicates the nature of the relationship, which do not fit into traditional delivery relationships.

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1. See: Decree of the Russian Government No. 317 dated May 17, 2002 “On Approval of the Rules for the Use of Gas and the Provision of Gas Supply Services in the Russian Federation” (as amended and supplemented on August 8, 2013); Decree of the Russian Government No. 307 dated May 23, 2006 “On the Procedure for Providing Public Services to Citizens” (as amended and supplemented on August 27, 2012); Russian Government Decree No. 549 dated July 21, 2008 “On the Procedure for Supplying Gas to Meet the Domestic Needs of Citizens (as amended and supplemented, including on March 19, 2020).
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