12. Without prejudice to Directives 2008/56/EC and 2013/30/EU, and subject to the approval of the competent authorities, offshore temporarily plugged wells and permanently plugged and abandoned wells located at water depth between 200 and 700 metres may be exempted from the requirements under paragraph 3 or 9 of this Article, where the operator can demonstrate that the impact on the climate of potential methane emissions from those wells is highly likely to be negligible by a reference to an environmental impact assessment conducted before drilling or after accidents during operations.