  
  
S/C/N/100 7 
8 May 2020 
(20-3493) Page: 1/2 
Council for Trade in Services  Original:  English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE III:3 OF THE  
GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN SERVICES  
The following notification, dated  27 April  2020, from the delegation of the European Union , is being 
circulated to Members of the Council for Trade in Services . 
 
_______________  
 
 
The following notification is made pursuant to GATS Article III:3 and relates to measures adopted 
by the European Union in 2019. Given that there is no common understanding among WTO Members 
on when a measure "significantly aff ects trade in services" within the meaning of GATS Article III:3 
and that the European Union cannot make a positive determination on this issue, it is therefore 
notifying measures that may be relevant to trade in services without prejudice to the interpret ation 
of the phrase "significantly affect trade in services" in Article III:3.  
 
1  MEMB ER NOTIFYING : 
The European Union  
2  NOTIFICATION UNDER : 
Article III:3 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services  
3  DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE : 
4 July  2019 
3.1  Duration:  
Not applicable  
 
4  AGENCY RESPONSIBLE FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE MEASURE : 
Member States of the European Union/European Union  
5  DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURE : 
a) Full title of the EU act:  
Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the 
internal market for electricity (Text with EEA relevance.)  
b) Brief summary of the content with a focus on potential effect on services trade:  
The Electricity Regulation defines general market principles that underpin the important role of 
renewable energies and storage and establishes non -discriminatory market rules. It includes new 
rules on balancing markets that allow renewable energies and demand response to be more 
competitive, while allowing system operators a share of long -term procuremen t to ensure system 
stability.  S/C/N/100 7 
- 2 - 
  Market rules on day -ahead, intraday and forward markets will contribute to increased flexibility and 
cross-border trade closer to real time, which facilitates the market participation of renewables. The 
Regulation provides fo r gate closure time to be as close to real time as possible and no longer than 
1 hour before real time. The imbalance settlement period is in principle 15 minutes, and the new 
rules limits derogations thereof to 2025 and allows exemptions also after 2025, but only for 
imbalance settlement periods not longer than 30 minutes.  
Price signals are improved by an obligation to remove all artificial price caps on the wholesale market, 
thereby allowing the value of electricity to be fully reflected in the market. T echnical bidding limits 
are possible and should reflect the value of lost load and be determined in accordance with the 
existing Network Codes/Guidelines . 
6  MEMB ERS SPECIFICALLY AFFECTED, IF ANY : 
N/A  
7  TEXTS AVAILABLE FROM : 
EU Official Journal, available on -line at:  
https://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32019L0944  
 
__________  