Hydrogen regulation is the body of rules on the transport, storage and trading of hydrogen. Where hydrogen was long governed purely by contract, a regulated market is now taking shape, with designated network operators, unbundling requirements and supervision.
Legal basis
The framework comes from the European hydrogen and gas decarbonisation package: Directive (EU) 2024/1788 and Regulation (EU) 2024/1789. The deadline for transposing the directive ran until 5 August 2026; the Netherlands is implementing the package through the Decarbonisation Package Implementation Act, which supplements the Energy Act. The minister may designate transmission and distribution system operators for hydrogen, as well as operators of terminals and storage systems. The group prohibition also applies to hydrogen network operators: they may not form part of a group that produces, supplies or trades hydrogen, and must be legally independent of the gas and electricity network operators. Access to the network is governed by negotiated third-party access until 31 December 2032 at the latest; from 1 January 2033 regulated access takes its place, with tariffs and methods approved by the Authority for Consumers and Markets.
How it works in practice
For offtakers and producers the transitional phase means that connection and transport terms are for the time being negotiated. That makes the contractual position important: duration, capacity, tariffs and the consequences of later regulation should be addressed expressly. Certification also matters, because qualification as renewable or low-carbon hydrogen determines access to subsidies and compliance with obligations.
Where it goes wrong
Contracts written for the unregulated phase contain no review clause for the moment regulated access begins. A second risk is a project structure in which the same group holds both the network and the production, which runs into the group prohibition. Third, certification is arranged too late, even though offtakers steer on it contractually.
Related terms
Hydrogen connects to the Energy Act, the guarantee of origin and supervision by the Authority for Consumers and Markets.
Working on a hydrogen project? Our energy lawyers test the structure and contracts against the new framework.
