3.11.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 2891 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) REGULATION (EC) No 1775/2005 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 28 September 2005 on conditions for access to the natural gas transmission networks (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Following consultation of the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (3, Whereas: (1) Directive 2003/55/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas (}) has made a significant contribution towards the creation of an internal market for gas. It is now necessary to provide for structural changes in the regulatory framework to tackle remaining barriers to the completion of the internal market in particular regarding the trade of gas. Additional technical rules are necessary, in particular regarding third party access services, principles of capacity allocation mechanisms, congestion management procedures and transparency requirements. (2) Experience gained in the implementation and monitoring of a first set of Guidelines for Good Practice, adopted by the European Gas Regulatory Forum (the Forum) in 2002, demonstrates that in order to ensure the full implementation of the rules set out in the Guidelines in all Member States, and in order to provide a minimum () OJ C 241, 28.9.2004, p. 31. (3 Opinion of the European Parliament of 20 April 2004 (O] C 104 E, 30.4.2004, p. 306), Council common position of 12 November 2004 (O] C 25 E, 1.2.2005, p. 44), position of the European Parliament of 8 March 2005 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 12 July 2005. () OQJL 176, 15.7.2003, p. 57. guarantee of equal market access conditions in practice, it is necessary to provide for them to become legally enforceable. A second set of common rules entitled ‘the Second Guidelines for Good Practice’ was adopted at the meeting of the Forum on 24-25 September 2003 and the purpose of this Regulation is to lay down, on the basis of those Guidelines, basic principles and rules regarding network access and third party access services, conges- tion management, transparency, balancing and the trading of capacity rights. Article 15 of Directive 2003/55/EC allows for a combined transmission and distribution system operator. Therefore, the rules set out in this Regulation do not require modification of the organisation of national transmission and distribution systems that are consistent with the relevant provisions of Directive 2003/55/EC and in particular Article 15 thereof. High pressure pipelines linking up local distributors to the gas network which are not primarily used in the context of local distribution are included in the scope of this Regulation. It is necessary to specify the criteria according to which tariffs for access to the network are determined, in order to ensure that they fully comply with the principle of non-discrimination and the needs of a well-functioning internal market and take fully into account the need for system integrity and reflect actual costs incurred, insofar as such costs correspond to those of an efficient and structurally comparable network operator and are transparent, whilst including appropriate return on