The Legal Regime of Concession Contracts for the Public Utility Service of Natural Gas Distribution. Aspects Derived from Theory and from Administrative Practice

Motto: “Public service is first a function to carry out, then a mission to ensure, but also the resulting concrete activity and, furthermore, the authority responsible for the public service†(Jacques Chevallier) The study aims to analyse the legal regime of the public utility gas concession agreements. The subject involves an interdisciplinary analysis, mainly from the perspective of the regulatory framework – implemented at European level in particular by Directive 2014/23/EC on concession and, at a national level, in the specific legislation, including the provisions of the Administrative Code – in the context of grants and public investment, as well as doctrine and administrative practice. The results of the research highlight both the topicality of the theme – taking into account that ensuring citizens' access to the public service of gas distribution, including through investment projects aimed at increasing the level of intelligent functionality of the natural gas distribution infrastructure, is a priority at both European Commission and national level – and the need to further research in this area from the perspective of the recently adopted regulatory framework and the specific interdisciplinarity of administrative sciences, which can lead to improving the quality and coherence of regulations in this field.