KEY ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR - August 2007 

General issues 

• The Stakeholder Group met in April and provided an update on the work of the IGs and on the agreed Action Plan. 
• At present, focus has been on evaluating the impact of the start of the Estlink operation. This exercise has produced practical proposals on how to avoid pan-caking of payments.
• A working paper on licensing issues has also been produced and no major barriers to entry were identified.

Priority I

Cooperation between network operators (including cross border issues and availability of transmission capacity). 

• Work on ITC issues towards the delivery of a Working Paper stating the Baltic TSOs opinion on the ETSO ITC mechanism is ongoing.
• The region is currently investigating solutions to pancaking regarding payments for transferring the energy to Estlink. A meeting is planned with Finnish TSO representative.

Priority II

Access to grids and  balancing rules 

• The IG on balancing issues will further develop draft Working Paper on Balancing in the Baltics (the first draft has already been prepared).
• Producers came up with the proposal to include in the further actions the problems of market design and fair transmission pricing.

Priority III

Availability and control of information 

·         The NRAs agreed on using the ERGEG Transparency Guidelines for Good Practice as the key template for assessing transparency across the Baltic region. 

Priority IV

Market development and compatibility with national legislation 

·         The IG on Licensing issues produced a summary paper on the license issuing procedures in the Baltics.