A Service Provider
need not submit a proposed Access Arrangement or Access Arrangement
Information in accordance with section 2.2 with respect to a Covered Pipeline
where:
(a)
before the date on which this Code takes effect, the Service Provider (or,
where the Service Provider does not at the relevant time yet exist, a person
able to represent and bind the future Service Provider) has submitted a
proposed Access Arrangement with respect to the Covered Pipeline together with
the applicable Access Arrangement Information (if relevant) to the person who
is under this Code the Relevant Regulator for that Covered Pipeline; and
(b) that
Relevant Regulator, having:
(i)
in substance done the things it would have been required
to do in relation to the proposed Access Arrangement and the applicable Access
Arrangement Information submitted in accordance with section 2.2; and
(ii)
certified in writing that those things have been done,
has approved the
proposed Access Arrangement and Access Arrangement Information.
In such circumstances
the proposed Access Arrangement and Access Arrangement Information shall be
deemed to have been accepted under this Code and to be the Access Arrangement
and Access Arrangement Information with respect to the relevant Covered
Pipeline for all purposes under this Code.
3. CONTENT OF AN ACCESS ARRANGEMENT
An Access Arrangement must, as a minimum, include the elements described in
section 3 of the Code. Section 3 establishes the following requirements:
Services Policy - An Access Arrangement must include a policy on the Services
to be offered. The Services Policy must:
· include a description of one or more
Services which are to be offered;
· where reasonable and practical, allow
Prospective Users to obtain a Service that includes only those elements that
the User wishes to be included in the Service; and
· where reasonable and practical, allow
Prospective Users to obtain a separate tariff in regard to a separate element
of a Service.
Reference Tariff - An Access Arrangement must contain one or more Reference
Tariffs (the Relevant Regulator may require more than one Reference Tariff
when appropriate). A Reference Tariff operates as a benchmark tariff for a
specific Service, in effect giving the User a right of access to the specific
Service at the Reference Tariff, and giving the Service Provider the right to
levy the Reference Tariff for that Service. Ordinarily a Reference Tariff must
be set in accordance with the principles set out in section 8.
As an alternative it is possible to have Reference Tariffs for a new Pipeline
set by a competitive tender process. Any person may conduct a competitive
tender to determine Reference Tariffs for a new Pipeline (and a review date
for those Reference Tariffs). The person conducting a tender must first obtain
the approval of the Relevant Regulator for the tender process proposed. Before
granting approval the Relevant Regulator must be satisfied, amongst other
things, that the successful tenderer will be selected principally on the basis
that the tender will deliver the lowest sustainable tariffs to users generally
over the life of the proposed Pipeline.
After the tender process has been conducted and the successful tender
selected, the person conducting the tender must submit the outcome of the
process to the Relevant Regulator for the Relevant Regulator’s final
approval. Before granting final approval the Relevant Regulator must be
satisfied, amongst other things, that the tender process proposed was followed
and that the successful tenderer was selected in accordance with the selection
criteria set out in the tender approval request. Once final approval is
granted the Reference Tariffs proposed by the successful tenderer will become
the Reference Tariffs for the proposed Pipeline.
It is intended that by using this process, Reference Tariffs will have been
set in a competitive market and will therefore naturally achieve the
objectives in section 8.1.
Terms and Conditions - An Access Arrangement must include the terms and
conditions on which the Service Provider will supply each Reference Service.
Capacity Management Policy - An Access Arrangement must state whether the
Covered Pipeline is a Contract Carriage Pipeline or a Market Carriage
Pipeline.
Trading Policy - An Access Arrangement for a Contract Carriage Pipeline must
include a policy on the trading of capacity. The Trading Policy must, amongst
other things, allow a User to transfer capacity:
· without the Service Provider’s
consent, if the contract between the User and the Service Provider is
unaltered by the Transfer; and
· with the Service Provider’s consent,
in any other case. Consent may be withheld only on reasonable commercial or
technical grounds.
Queuing Policy - An Access Arrangement must include a policy for defining the
priority that Prospective Users have to negotiate for specific Capacity (a
Queuing Policy).
Extensions/Expansions Policy - An Access Arrangement must include a policy
setting out a method for determining whether an extension or expansion to the
Covered Pipeline is or is not to be treated as part of the Covered Pipeline
for the purposes of the Code.
Review Date - An Access Arrangement must include a date on or by which
revisions to the Access Arrangement must be submitted and a date on which the
revised Access Arrangement is intended to commence.