Article 14 17

17.   Without prejudice to Directives 2008/56/EC (26) and 2013/30/EU (27) of the European Parliament and of the Council, the competent authorities may decide to exempt offshore oil and gas components located in their territory at a water depth greater than 700 metres from the requirements under this Article if the operator concerned can provide robust evidence that the impact on the climate of potential methane emissions from those components is highly likely to be negligible.