Instead, it has given new guidelines to advise the governments of European Union countries not to fine criminals for three years. While that does not remove formal requirements, it would suspend enforcement to give companies more time to comply. The guidelines, first reported by POLITICO, were made official Monday after months of speculation. The member states will discuss them on Wednesday.
The Commission’s bet is that companies are making so much money from selling in Europe – especially as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sends energy prices soaring – that they won’t kill a profitable business just because of legal uncertainty.
The executive is also confident that compliance will not be a problem in the first place, and has done so to assure the diplomats that its three-year “grace period” for penalties will stand up in court if member states enforce it properly. Last week provided more guidance helping companies verify the level of emissions – crucial information they say is missing.
“People will come to their senses” in the summer, said one EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The guidelines “will make it clear how and when to comply, and it will be clear that many importers can comply and will comply rather than lose their sales in the international liquid gas market.”
It is true that business is booming for companies exporting to Europe. In the first 100 days after the US and Israel attacked Iran, the EU paid 62 billion Euros for energy supplies. according to the Jacques Delors Institute. In particular, the bloc significantly increased its imports of jet fuel and liquefied natural gas from the United States, one of the biggest opponents of the methane laws.
Conviction that companies will not leave Europe was expressed at a meeting of EU ambassadors last week, where the Commission told member states that it would be better to wait until 2028 to assess the impact of the rules, rather than breaking them based on industry speculation, according to two diplomats briefed on the meeting.
