Changes

The first two phases, so-called free market, are following the adoption of Directive 96/9 2 of 19 December 1996 which established the principle of opening up sites of over 100 GW / year in national energy markets. Due to the limited success of this first Directive, it was repealed in 2003 and replaced by Directive 2003/54 / EC that aimed at speeding up liberalization. This is commonly referred to as "the second energy-climate package". In France, these two Directives have been included in National law through law 2000-108 of 10 February 2000 and 2004-803 of 9 August 2004, amended by Law No. 2003-8 of 3 January 2003 and Law No 2006-1537 of 7 December 2006.

The third package of energy market liberalisation rests on 5 pillars:

Requires an ownership separation for electricity generation and transmission networks. Companies active in both generation and transmission are therefore required to split up. This forced split aims at increasing competition.

Fostering a competitive energy market requires independent regulators. Among other aspects, regulators are required by law to run independent budgets and be able to impose binding decisions and penalties upon non-compliance.

A new Agency, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), was formed to help national regulators coordinate the smooth functioning of an integrated energy market. The agency is independet of the European Commission, national governments, and energy companies. Areas of work for the agency include: deciding on cross-border issues in case of disagreement and monitoring e.g. retail prices.

National transmission system operators are responsible for ensuring electricity and natural gas is effectively transported through pipelines and grids.