(3) In order to attain a real internal market for electricity and gas without VAT obstacles, the place of supply of gas through the natural gas distribution system and of electricity, before the goods reach the final stage of consumption, should be determined to be the place where the customer has established his business.

5. Where distribution system operators are responsible for balancing the gas distribution system, rules adopted by them for that purpose shall be objective, transparent and non-discriminatory, including rules for the charging of system users for energy imbalance.

(g) connected to the gas system are informed about their rights to be supplied, under the national legislation applicable, with natural gas of a specified quality at reasonable prices.

This legislation was adopted in response to the Commission's investigation of a complaint lodged by the Syndicat Professionnel des Entreprises Gazières Non-Nationalisées, the trade association for non-nationalised gas companies, against the French State and Gaz de France, the publicly owned gas distributor, on the grounds that the law then in force prevented non-nationalised distributors from extending their service to certain areas although Gaz de France, because of the requirement that its investments must show a profit, was refusing to install distribution networks there.

energy diversification (new natural gas distribution network in Greece already in place; more than half of gas network laid in Portugal)

Let me now turn to the value proposition offered by the opportunity to expand the natural gas distribution system to deliver more affordable, cleaner and more efficient energy services to customers, communities and industry, especially Canada's mining industry located off of the existing distribution system and in more remote and northern areas.