27th European Energy Law Seminar organised in The Hague in co-operation with GCEL

The 27^th edition of the European Energy Law Seminar (EELS) took place on the 25^th and 26^th of January in the Hilton Hotel in The Hague. Nearly seventy speakers and participants from all over Europe gathered in The Hague to discuss the developments in European energy law across all segments of the energy sector. The EELS was organised by the Dutch Energy Law Association (NeVER) in cooperation with the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law of the University of Oslo and the Groningen Centre of Energy Law of the University of Groningen.

The 27^th EELS edition saw some substantial differences in comparison to the 26^th edition, which was held in 2013. Not only did the conference move from Noordwijk to The Hague, the programme also saw some changes. Parallel sessions were introduced this time to allow a broader range of issues to be discussed. This resulted in a total of no less than twenty-six speakers, a significant increase in comparison to the last edition.

Prof. Martha Roggenkamp opened the conference on Monday morning in her capacity as the chairwoman of the NeVER. After the opening topics such as ‘developments in EU energy law’, ‘security of supply’ and ‘developments in Pan-European energy trade’ were discussed in plenary sessions. In addition, parallel sessions were held on ‘gas safety’ and ‘smart developments in the electricity sector’. On Tuesday the programme included topics such as ‘climate change developments’, ‘electricity developments in the North Sea’, and ‘dispute settlement in the energy sector’. The parallel sessions on Tuesday were about ‘heat supply’ and ‘tariffs and infrastructure investments’. The speakers came from law firms, academia, think tanks, national regulators, industry, ministries and international organisations. Due to this very diverse group of speakers, all topics were addressed from multiple angles.

People from all over Europe participated in the EELS. Amongst the countries represented were: Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia, and Italy.

GCEL provided several speakers for the event. Professor Roggenkamp was one of the main organisers of the event and she acted as chairperson on several of the panels. Moreover, GCEL assistant professor Dr. Fleming participated in the parallel session on gas safety. In addition, GCEL researcher Suryapratim Roy gave a presentation on developments in climate change litigation. External GCEL researcher Silke Goldberg gave two presentations: one during the session on developments in Pan-European energy trade and one during the parallel session on tariffs and infrastructure investments. Finally, former GCEL researcher Hannah Muller gave a presentation on electricity developments in the North Sea.

The substantial changes of this EELS edition in comparison to the previous edition will be evaluated over the next few weeks and a decision will be made whether the EELS will take place on an annual or a biannual basis in the future.

This article was published by the Faculty of Law.

• Read more news by the Faculty of Law.