CHAPTER II BALANCING SYSTEM

Article 4 General principles
1. The network users shall be responsible to balance their balancing portfolios in order to minimise the need for transmission system operators to undertake balancing actions set out under this Regulation.
2. Balancing rules established in accordance with this Regulation shall reflect genuine system needs, taking into account the resources available to transmission system operators and shall provide incentives for network users to balance their balancing portfolios efficiently.
3. Network users shall have the possibility to enter into a legally binding agreement with a transmission system operator which enables them to submit trade notifications irrespective of whether they have contracted transport capacity or not.
4. In a balancing zone where more than one transmission system operator is active, this Regulation shall apply to all the transmission system operators within that balancing zone. In case the responsibility of keeping their transmission networks in balance has been transferred to an entity, this Regulation shall apply to that entity to the extent defined under the applicable national rules.

Article 5 Trade notifications and allocations
1. Gas transfer between two balancing portfolios within one balancing zone shall be made through disposing and acquiring trade notifications submitted to the transmission system operator in respect of the gas day.
2. The timing for submitting, withdrawing and amending trade notifications shall be defined by the transmission system operator in the transport contract or other legally binding agreement with network users taking into account the time, if any, for processing the trade notifications. The transmission system operator shall enable the network users to submit trade notifications close to the time when the trade notification becomes effective.
3. The transmission system operator shall minimise the time for processing trade notifications. The time for processing shall not take more than thirty minutes except where the time when the trade notification becomes effective permits to extend the time for processing up to two hours.
4. A trade notification shall provide at least the following information:
(a) the gas day for which gas is transferred;
(b) the identification of the balancing portfolios concerned;
(c) whether it is a disposing or an acquiring trade notification;
(d) the notification quantity expressed in kWh/d for daily notification quantity or in kWh/h for hourly notification quantity, as required by the transmission system operator.
5. If the transmission system operator receives a corresponding set of a disposing and an acquiring trade notifications and the notification quantities are equal then the transmission system operator shall allocate the notification quantity to the balancing portfolios concerned:
(a) as an off-take to the balancing portfolio of the network user making the disposing trade notification; and
(b) as an input to the balancing portfolio of the network user making the acquiring trade notification.
6. Where the notification quantities referred to in paragraph 5 are not equal, the transmission system operator shall either allocate the lower notification quantity specified in the relevant trade notification or shall reject both trade notifications. The applicable rule shall be defined by the transmission system operator in the applicable transport contract or other legally binding agreement.
7. A service provider shall not be prevented to act on behalf of a network user for the purpose of paragraph 5, subject to the prior approval of the transmission system operator.
8. A network user may make a trade notification on a gas day irrespective of whether any nomination was made by this network user for that gas day.
9. Paragraphs 1 to 8 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the transmission system operators trading in accordance with Article 6(3)(a).