Electricity market design

The European network codes and guidelines - also known as network codes - are a series of EU regulations that specify uniform minimum requirements for network access and network operation and thus create the technical conditions for an efficient and open EU internal market in the electricity sector.

In the past, grid operation and grid access rules were drawn up at national or even sub-national level. The European Commission is pursuing the goal of establishing a common internal electricity market.

Binding EU-wide rules are a prerequisite for the efficient handling of the increasing electricity trade between EU member states.

The Network Codes were created as a result of the EU's third energy package and serve to further develop Regulation (EC) 714/2009 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity and its recast as Regulation (EU) 2019/943 on the internal market in electricity. The Network Codes were issued by the European Commission as delegated acts or implementing regulations and are legally binding provisions.