High-pressure gas pipeline; notification of construction

Anyone intending to construct a high-pressure gas pipeline must notify the competent authority of the project in writing.

Anyone intending to construct a high-pressure gas pipeline must notify the competent authority in writing and describe the project prior to the planned start of construction, enclosing all documents required for the assessment of safety. The notification must be accompanied by an expert's statement confirming that the specified quality of the high-pressure gas pipeline meets the requirements of Sections 2 and 3 of the High-Pressure Gas Pipeline Ordinance (GasHDrLtgV).

High-pressure gas pipelines include all equipment used for pipeline operation, in particular compressor, expansion, control and metering systems, as well as pipelines or pipeline systems for optimizing gas procurement and gas supply.

• Documents in accordance with the "Working aids of the federal states for the enforcement of the Ordinance on High-Pressure Gas Pipelines (GasHDrLtgV) of May 18, 2011 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 928), as amended" of the Federal-State Committee on Gas of December 05, 2024

The project must be notified to the competent authority at least eight weeks before the planned start of construction (Section 5 (1) GasHDrLtgV).

The competent authority may object to the project within a period of eight weeks if the specified quality of the high-pressure gas pipeline does not meet the requirements of Sections 2 and 3 GasHDrLtgV (Section 5 (2) GasHDrLtgV). This period begins as soon as the complete documents and the expert opinion of the competent authority are available and can be extended once by four weeks if this is absolutely necessary for the examination of the project.

The deadlines that apply to a planning approval or planning authorization procedure pursuant to Section 43 sentence 1 number 2 or Section 43b sentence 1 number 2 of the Energy Industry Act remain unaffected by this.

Construction of the high-pressure gas pipeline may only commence after expiry of the deadline pursuant to Section 5 (2) GasHDrLtgV or after receipt of notification that no objection has been raised. In the event of a timely complaint, work may not commence until the defect has been rectified. This does not apply to parts of the high-pressure gas pipeline that have not been objected to.