July 26 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said that it has decided to send a reasoned opinion to Romania for failing to eliminate restrictions on trade in natural gas between EU member states.
"After assessing the recent amendments to the Energy Law adopted by Romania, the Commission found that an obligation to sell natural gas with priority on the Romanian market is maintained and, consequently, this violates EU law," the EU institution said in a monthly infringement decisions package on Thursday.
The Commission considers that the obligation for producers in Romania to give priority to sales on the domestic market is in breach of the EU rules for the internal market in natural gas.
This is a second reasoned opinion sent to Romania by the Commission on the matter, after the EU institution did the same in 2014.
Romania has two months to respond to the arguments raised by the Commission, or the EU institution may decide to send a reasoned opinion, which could in turn be followed by referral to court over the issue.