Published Papers by Anna Butenko
This article examines the odorisation process of biomethane before it is injected into the natura... more This article examines the odorisation process of biomethane before it is injected into the natural gas grid in the Netherlands. Odorisation of biomethane is accompanied with risks and inadequate odorisation might have substantial legal and physical consequences. This article attempts to address one of the technical risks related to the odorisation of biomethane, which is the odor masking due to a trace component in the biomethane. Furthermore, this article investigates the liability and responsibility with regards to this odor masking in the light of the European Union’s Product Safety Directive. It can be concluded that it remains unclear who can be held responsible if the biogas producer is not the one who injects the biomethane into the gas grid (biomethane injector). Moreover, the European product liability regime does not cover all aspects in case damages occur due to inadequately odorised biomethane.
The legal literature concerning the interplay between innovation and law is split between two str... more The legal literature concerning the interplay between innovation and law is split between two streams: law and economics (broadly defined) and law and technology. They seem to exist in parallel and largely non-intersecting inter-disciplinary silos. This paper attempts to reconcile these two streams and identify synergies. Even the definition of innovation needs to be recast in order to integrate both streams: it is best seen as a combination of three elements, namely (i) an invention, (ii) which is diffused and adopted and (iii) which has a positive social impact. One of the main shortcomings of law and technology lies in how it sees innovation as an essentially technological phenomenon, and one that is largely exogenous to the regulatory process. Law and economics literature pays closer attention to regulation for innovation (or innovativeness): it identifies market failures, such as market power, and externalities flowing from the public good nature of information. Yet law and economics literature assumes that innovation is good for welfare, without more. Law and technology can usefully help to make up for that flaw; it takes a more critical view of innovation and is rather concerned with the regulation of innovation. The vexed issue of disconnect – the difficulty for law to keep up with the pace of innovation – shows how these two streams can be combined. Within regulatory disconnect, one can distinguish a horizontal dimension (time) and a vertical dimension (level of generality). Much law and technology literature advocates early and technology-specific intervention to deal with emerging innovations. Law and economics literature would point in the other direction on both dimensions, but beyond that, it also offers insights into institutional models that allow a balancing of the concerns arising from each stream of literature, using independent and accountable regulatory authorities.
This article examines the odorisation process of biomethane before it is injected into the natura... more This article examines the odorisation process of biomethane before it is injected into the natural gas grid in the Netherlands. Odorisation of biomethane is accompanied with risks and inadequate odorisation might have substantial legal and physical consequences. This article attempts to address one of the technical risks related to the odorisation of biomethane, which is the odor masking due to a trace component in the biomethane. Furthermore, this article investigates the liability and responsibility with regards to this odor masking in the light of the European Union’s Product Safety Directive. It can be concluded that it remains unclear who can be held responsible if the biogas producer is not the one who injects the biomethane into the gas grid (biomethane injector). Moreover, the European product liability regime does not cover all aspects in case damages occur due to inadequately odorised biomethane.
Working Papers by Anna Butenko
This paper analyzes the (pro)active role consumers could (and are encouraged by the respective po... more This paper analyzes the (pro)active role consumers could (and are encouraged by the respective policy to) assume in markets that emerged due to European market liberalization and technological changes. These changes expanded consumer markets and changed regulatory architectures accordingly. Consumers’ purchasing decisions became key to the well-functioning of markets: they are entrusted to regulate markets and contribute to the competitiveness and the legitimacy of market processes. In the EU, consumers are expected to contribute both to EU market integration and to European society.
However, this new regulatory role of the consumer is not matched with a corresponding legal framework. The policy discourse on consumers’ active participation in markets and even their accountability for regulating markets is not matched with the necessary legal (consumer) provisions to do so. The mismatch between legal rules and consumers’ new role in market regulation may lead to regulatory ineffectiveness and legal uncertainty. Moreover, while technological developments make this active consumer role possible, there is in fact also a gap between law and technological development, which can lead to the problem of ‘regulatory disconnection.’ These problems are especially present in the EU energy sector, where technical developments such as smart meters, solar panels, decentralized energy storage, etc., enable a proactive role of energy consumers. Consumers are often prosumers of energy i.e. consumers who produce their own energy.
This paper critically analyzes current EU law on the (energy) consumers’ new role in market regulation. It analyzes normative EU law concepts and definitions of the consumer and examines whether and how rules comply with the concept of the active regulatory consumer. The paper uses a case-study of the prosumer-driven local energy production initiatives and examines whether the energy consumers’ new role creates regulatory disconnection, especially if it is not matched by the progress in corresponding EU law provisions.
Whilst there is widespread agreement in policy circles that fostering innovation should be a prio... more Whilst there is widespread agreement in policy circles that fostering innovation should be a priority, there is far less consensus on what this entails and how to achieve this objective. This lack of consensus is echoed in the academic literature on innovation. In this paper, we seek to reconcile two lines of literature with which lawyers are most familiar: the law and economics (broadly defined) and law and technology literature streams seem to exist in parallel and largely non-intersecting inter-disciplinary silos, which prevent the cross-fertilization of insights between them and the realization of synergies. This paper is a modest attempt to connect these silos and to identify how these two streams could complement each other. Synergies between these literature streams would contribute to a more comprehensive and multi-faceted understanding of the complex relationship between law and innovation that is a pre-requisite for effective political and regulatory decision making in relation to innovation.
Conference Papers by Anna Butenko
The current article claims that the recent changes taking place in the EU gas market, and namely ... more The current article claims that the recent changes taking place in the EU gas market, and namely internal market drive and security of supply concerns, have a significant impact upon the process of natural gas odorization. The latter did not represent significant problems in previously heterogonous and scarcely interconnected national gas markets of the EU Member States, in which the gas flows were traditionally uni-directional from gas supply/ transit to gas consuming countries. However, in the changing conditions of the currently developing EU gas market, discrepancies in odorization practices found between neighboring countries effectively hamper interoperability and represent an obstacle for bi-lateral flows, therefore negatively impacting the security of supply-ensuring measures, and the creation of an integrated and liquid internal market.
Untreated natural gas is a colorless and an odorless substance, difficult to detect in ambient ai... more Untreated natural gas is a colorless and an odorless substance, difficult to detect in ambient air. Odorization is is process of adding an odor to natural gas, and it is crucial for safe gas consumption, as it allows a lay person to detect gas leakages and to take measures to eliminate them. An important development for the gas sector is the emergence of biomethane- biogas upgraded to the quality to natural gas- that can be injected into the natural gas network. Just like natural gas, biomethane has to be odorized in order to possess a characteristic alarming ‘gas’ smell. Biomethane is increasingly recognized as an equivalent to natural gas in legal terms: e.g. Third Energy Package applies in equal measure to both biomethane and natural gas. This is also the case in the Dutch national legislation. In view of the above issues, an important question arises, and namely: Are the legal developments on European and Dutch national level in relation to biomethane translating into an equal legal regime applicable to its odorization in comparison to natural gas? The current paper applies theoretical framework embedded in institutional economics as a starting point and employs functionalist perspective as the method of legal comparative analysis. The paper reaches the conclusion that on the European and Dutch national levels there is no divergence between the legal regimes as applicable to natural gas and respectively to biomethane. Whereas in terms of legal provisions related to the odorization of both gases on a more technical and applied level some discrepancies are indeed identified, it is established that these differences are dictated by the technical and market aspects of the current Dutch practices of biomethane production and injection into the natural gas grid, rather than by regulatory disconnection between technology development and legal system.
In this paper we analyse biomethane injection into the grid from the perspective of a degree of f... more In this paper we analyse biomethane injection into the grid from the perspective of a degree of fit between the level of technology and the formal institutions (laws and regulations) supporting it. We conclude that there are situations in which biomethane produced cannot be injected into the grid due to capacity constraints and / or monopolization of the available capacity by other biomethane producers. We also illustrate a number of technical solutions for accommodating biomethane in the natural gas grid and analyse how these solutions are reflected in the legal framework. On the basis of this analysis we conclude that the degree of fit between the current legal framework (aimed at uni-lateral flows from upstream production to downstream consumption) and the current biomethane developments (translating into downstream production and sometimes upstream consumption) is not sufficient for the efficient functioning of the energy market (i.e. corresponding to the criteria of balanced cost-benefit distribution, market access and level-playing field). In this paper we propose a number of measures for reactive changes to the legal framework which could help increase the future degree of fit between the two.
The paper discusses the technical options for injecting green gas (biomethane) into the natural g... more The paper discusses the technical options for injecting green gas (biomethane) into the natural gas grid in the Netherlands, and identifies the main criteria for choosing one option over the other. The paper subsequently argues that cost-efficiency is not always the main driving factor behind this selection. The authors further investigate the reasons behind this issue, and reach the conclusion that it is largely due to the design of the current regulatory framework. The lack of clarity in the current regulatory framework with regard to the roles and responsibilities of the market parties involved in the implementation of technical solutions, can in some cases lead to the selection of less adequate and non-optimal solutions. This could in turn lead to unnecessary costs and investments. The paper proposes the solution of altering the current regulatory framework, in order to increase the degree of cost-reflectivity for the green gas market as a whole in the choice of the technical options for injecting green gas into the grid in the Netherlands.
The issue of the same-sex partnerships and marriage is one of the most disputable (and hence deba... more The issue of the same-sex partnerships and marriage is one of the most disputable (and hence debated) and emotionally charged ones in the area of human rights protection, superseded perhaps only by the right to life/ abortion and euthanasia debate. The European Court of Human Right (ECtHR) has been deciding on the cases dealing with this issue for over thirty years. It is assumed that the evolution of public social and political opinions towards same-sex partnerships in the respective European countries is mirrored by the evolution in the decisions of the ECtHR. Moreover, the main research aim of the current paper is to answer the following questions: how does the evolution in the decisions of the ECtHR on the issue of same-sex partnership relate to the evolution of the of public, social and political opinions in the respective European countries?
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Published Papers by Anna Butenko
Working Papers by Anna Butenko
However, this new regulatory role of the consumer is not matched with a corresponding legal framework. The policy discourse on consumers’ active participation in markets and even their accountability for regulating markets is not matched with the necessary legal (consumer) provisions to do so. The mismatch between legal rules and consumers’ new role in market regulation may lead to regulatory ineffectiveness and legal uncertainty. Moreover, while technological developments make this active consumer role possible, there is in fact also a gap between law and technological development, which can lead to the problem of ‘regulatory disconnection.’ These problems are especially present in the EU energy sector, where technical developments such as smart meters, solar panels, decentralized energy storage, etc., enable a proactive role of energy consumers. Consumers are often prosumers of energy i.e. consumers who produce their own energy.
This paper critically analyzes current EU law on the (energy) consumers’ new role in market regulation. It analyzes normative EU law concepts and definitions of the consumer and examines whether and how rules comply with the concept of the active regulatory consumer. The paper uses a case-study of the prosumer-driven local energy production initiatives and examines whether the energy consumers’ new role creates regulatory disconnection, especially if it is not matched by the progress in corresponding EU law provisions.
Conference Papers by Anna Butenko
However, this new regulatory role of the consumer is not matched with a corresponding legal framework. The policy discourse on consumers’ active participation in markets and even their accountability for regulating markets is not matched with the necessary legal (consumer) provisions to do so. The mismatch between legal rules and consumers’ new role in market regulation may lead to regulatory ineffectiveness and legal uncertainty. Moreover, while technological developments make this active consumer role possible, there is in fact also a gap between law and technological development, which can lead to the problem of ‘regulatory disconnection.’ These problems are especially present in the EU energy sector, where technical developments such as smart meters, solar panels, decentralized energy storage, etc., enable a proactive role of energy consumers. Consumers are often prosumers of energy i.e. consumers who produce their own energy.
This paper critically analyzes current EU law on the (energy) consumers’ new role in market regulation. It analyzes normative EU law concepts and definitions of the consumer and examines whether and how rules comply with the concept of the active regulatory consumer. The paper uses a case-study of the prosumer-driven local energy production initiatives and examines whether the energy consumers’ new role creates regulatory disconnection, especially if it is not matched by the progress in corresponding EU law provisions.