Transmission system operators shall offer a daily capacity product for interruptible capacity in both directions at interconnection points where firm capacity has been offered but was sold out day-ahead. At unidirectional interconnection points where technical capacity is offered only in one direction, transmission system operators shall offer a daily product for interruptible capacity in the other direction. Transmission system operators may offer interruptible capacity products of longer duration as well.

If interruptible capacity is offered, this shall not be detrimental to the amount of firm capacity on offer. Transmission system operators shall not set aside capacity that can be offered as firm capacity in order to offer it as interruptible capacity.

To the extent interruptible capacity products other than daily products are offered, the same standard capacity products for firm capacity shall also apply for interruptible capacity, in terms of duration of the products.

To the extent interruptible capacity is offered, it shall be allocated via an auction process with the exception of within-day interruptible capacity.

Within-day interruptible capacity shall be allocated by means of an over-nomination procedure.

Within-day interruptible capacity shall only be allocated when firm capacity, whether technical capacity or additional capacity, is sold out.

Where auctions are held for any interruptible products longer than within-day transmission system operators shall, if known, publish the amounts of interruptible capacity on offer before the start of the auction process.

If offered, interruptible capacity shall be allocated by means of a separate auction after firm capacity of equal duration has been allocated, but before the auction of firm capacity with a shorter duration starts, with the exception of within-day interruptible capacity.

If offered, interruptible capacity auctions shall be conducted in accordance with the same design principles and timescales as applied for firm capacity. The exact timescales applied for the interruptible capacity auctions shall be detailed within the auction calendar with the exception of within-day interruptible capacity.

Interruptible capacities shall have minimum interruption lead times, which shall be decided jointly by adjacent transmission system operators.

The default minimum interruption lead time for a given gas hour shall be forty five minutes after the start of the re-nomination cycle for that gas hour. Where two transmission system operators wish to shorten the lead time for interruptions, any related agreement entered into between the transmission system operators shall be subject to competent national regulatory authority approval.

The order in which interruptions shall be performed, if the total of nominations exceeds the quantity of gas that can flow at a certain interconnection point, shall be determined based on the contractual timestamp of the respective transport contracts on an interruptible basis. In case of an interruption, transport contract coming into force earlier shall prevail over transport contract coming into force later.

If, after applying the procedure described in paragraph 1, two or more nominations are ranked at the same position within the interruption order and the transmission system operator does not interrupt all of them, a pro rata reduction of these specific nominations shall apply.

To accommodate the differences between the various interruptible capacity services within the Union, the adjacent transmission system operators shall implement and coordinate the joint procedures provided for in this Article on an interconnection point by interconnection point basis.