Recital (20)

Unlike other goods, natural gas is a homogeneous commodity which is traded in large volumes and often resold multiple times between traders at wholesale level. Taking into account the particular complexity of tracing the origin of natural gas, and bearing in mind that Russian suppliers might seek to circumvent this Regulation, for example by sales via intermediaries, via transshipments or via transport through other countries, this Regulation should provide for an effective framework to avoid circumvention of the prohibition. Relevant authorities should therefore be enabled to take the necessary actions to identify whether natural gas supplies from the Russian Federation are brought into the customs territory of the Union through schemes created for circumventing this Regulation. When determining whether natural gas is released for free circulation in the Union, customs authorities should not only depend on information provided in the customs declaration, but be allowed, on the basis of other relevant information, to assess, where they deem relevant, whether a good brought into the Union is actually intended to be released into free circulation. This Regulation should also require the establishment of the country of production and the supply chain of natural gas imported into the Union.