Cooperation

Partners

Having been in existence for 18 years and enjoying a prominent position in Europe, CRE is committed to cooperating with foreign regulators or foreign government departments looking to create regulatory authorities, and more generally with states keen to introduce market reforms and deregulate their electricity and gas sectors.
While foreign regulators and institutions are always the ultimate beneficiaries of such cooperation efforts, French providers of funds or European institutions may occasionally seek CRE’s assistance. CRE also sometimes works in tandem with other regulators from EU Member States, to provide combined expertise.

Cooperative approach

For CRE, productive cooperation requires in-depth knowledge of regulatory issues and a good understanding of the situation and needs of the country concerned.
Its offers of cooperation are therefore built on a combination of previous experience and diagnostic assessments, putting the emphasis on high quality dialogue and promoting a climate of trust based on its neutrality and independence. Exchanges of experience and best practices form the core of its work in the international arena. International cooperation is a means of comparing different regulatory models and market oversight issues, while providing valuable input to French and European thinking on regulatory matters.

Forms of cooperation

CRE’s offers of cooperation are always defined in conjunction with the partner concerned, and involve:

• Study trips to France, with delegates from foreign authorities visiting CRE’s offices. In 2017, CRE received several delegations from Japan, one from Armenia, and one from Burkina Faso;
• Expert field assessments carried out by CRE on-site at the request of certain countries, to identify and suggest solutions to issues in the local energy sector, market and network structure;
• Twinning arrangements between authorities. Funded by the European Union as part of its neighbourhood policy and generally lasting for a two-year period, twinning agreements require a high level of commitment by both parties, on-site and remotely, and are one of the most complete forms of international cooperation. In 2017, CRE was selected to work in Morocco alongside the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Solidarity, as part of the twinning arrangement known as “Support for strengthening the energy sector”.