But in response to fierce opposition from industry, member countries and the U.S. government, the Commission is now floating a more relaxed approach to enforcement of the rules.
Under the draft recommendations, companies would be allowed exemptions under three crisis conditions outlined in the EU’s security of supply regulation — including the “early warning” level, which can be triggered before any real disruption occurs.
The recommendations emphasize that authorities can suspend or reduce fines on a case-by-case basis, citing a wide range of mitigating factors, including the availability of cargoes, ship terminal capacity, the ability of countries to meet EU oil stockpiling requirements, and a range of others, left to the broad discretion of member countries.
The EU executive has repeatedly ruled out changing the rules themselves, and the recommendations — which are set to be presented to countries on Monday, and are subject to change — instead take advantage of broad wording in the original legislation to keep the rules intact while highlighting flexibilities.