1.Where certification is requested by a transmission system owner or a transmission system operator which is controlled by a person or persons from a third country or third countries, the regulatory authority shall notify the Commission.
The regulatory authority shall also notify to the Commission without delay any circumstances that would result in a person or persons from a third country or third countries acquiring control of a transmission system or a transmission system operator.
2.The transmission system operator shall notify to the regulatory authority any circumstances that would result in a person or persons from a third country or third countries acquiring control of the transmission system or the transmission system operator.
3.The regulatory authority shall adopt a draft decision on the certification of a transmission system operator within four months of the date of notification by the transmission system operator. It shall refuse the certification if it has not been demonstrated:
(a)that the entity concerned complies with the requirements of Article 43; and
(b)to the regulatory authority or to another competent national authority designated by the Member State that granting certification will not put at risk the security of energy supply of the Member State and the Union. In considering that question the regulatory authority or other competent national authority shall take into account:
the rights and obligations of the Union with respect to that third country arising under international law, including any agreement concluded with one or more third countries to which the Union is a party and which addresses the issues of security of energy supply;
the rights and obligations of the Member State with respect to that third country arising under agreements concluded with it, insofar as they comply with Union law; and
other specific facts and circumstances of the case and the third country concerned.
4.The regulatory authority shall notify the decision to the Commission without delay, together with all the relevant information with respect to that decision.
5.Member States shall provide for the regulatory authority or the designated competent authority referred to in point (b) of paragraph 3, before the regulatory authority adopts a decision on the certification, to request an opinion from the Commission on whether:
(a)the entity concerned complies with the requirements of Article 43; and
(b)granting certification will not put at risk the security of energy supply to the Union.
6.The Commission shall examine the request referred to in paragraph 5 as soon as it is received. Within two months of receiving the request, it shall deliver its opinion to the regulatory authority or, if the request was made by the designated competent authority, to that authority.
In preparing the opinion, the Commission may request the views of ACER, the Member State concerned, and interested parties. In the event that the Commission makes such a request, the two-month period shall be extended by two months.
In the absence of an opinion by the Commission within the period referred to in the first and second subparagraphs, the Commission shall be deemed not to raise objections to the decision of the regulatory authority.
7.When assessing whether the control by a person or persons from a third country or third countries will put at risk the security of energy supply to the Union, the Commission shall take into account:
(a)the specific facts of the case and the third country or third countries concerned; and
(b)the rights and obligations of the Union with respect to that third country or third countries arising under international law, including an agreement concluded with one or more third countries to which the Union is a party and which addresses the issues of security of supply.
8.The regulatory authority shall, within two months of the expiry of the period referred to in paragraph 6, adopt its final decision on the certification. In adopting its final decision the regulatory authority shall take utmost account of the Commission's opinion. In any event Member States shall have the right to refuse certification where granting certification puts at risk the Member State's security of energy supply or the security of energy supply of another Member State. Where the Member State has designated another competent national authority to make the assessment referred to in point (b) of paragraph 3, it may require the regulatory authority to adopt its final decision in accordance with the assessment of that competent national authority. The regulatory authority's final decision and the Commission's opinion shall be published together. Where the final decision diverges from the Commission's opinion, the Member State concerned shall provide and publish, together with that decision, the reasoning underlying such decision.
9.Nothing in this Article shall affect the right of Member States to exercise, in accordance with Union law, national legal controls to protect legitimate public security interests.
10.This Article, with exception of point (a) of paragraph 3 thereof, shall also apply to Member States which are subject to a derogation under Article 66.