On Thursday, the Committees on Industry, Research and Energy and on International Trade approved draft plans to ban imports of Russian natural gas – both pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) – from 1 January 2026, with limited exceptions for existing short-term contracts (until 17 June 2026) and long-term contracts (until 1 January 2027), provided they were concluded before 17 June 2025 and remain unamended.

Under the proposed rules, energy operators will be able to invoke “force majeure” to terminate Russian gas import contracts, since the legally-binding prohibition on further imports, as provided by this new regulation, is explicitly defined as a sovereign act beyond their control.

The MEPs propose to prohibit the temporary storage of Russian-origin natural gas in EU facilities as of 1 January 2026. Moreover, to close loopholes and mitigate risk of circumvention, operators would have to provide customs authorities with stricter and more detailed evidence of the…