Importers of natural gas should be obliged to provide authorities with all information necessary to establish the country of production of natural gas imported into the Union and to determine whether the imported gas is subject to the general prohibition or one of its exceptions. The concept of origin under Union customs law may not always allow for the identification of the country of production of the imported gas, for example if the gas was processed (e.g. liquified or regasified) after leaving the Russian Federation. This Regulation should therefore also cover cases where the country of origin under Union customs law differs from the country of production of the gas and provide for a mechanism to verify whether the natural gas was extracted or liquified in the Russian Federation. Any gas which, before its import into the Union, was exported from the Russian Federation, either via direct export from Russia to the Union or via indirect export through a third country, should, except in case of transit, be subject to the prohibition.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
