36Thus although State intervention in the fixing of the price of supply of natural gas to the final consumer constitutes an obstacle to the achievement of a competitive natural gas market, that intervention may none the less be accepted within the framework of Directive 2009/73 if three conditions are satisfied. First, the intervention must pursue an objective of general economic interest, secondly, it must comply with the principle of proportionality, and, thirdly, it must lay down public service obligations that are clearly defined, transparent, non-discriminatory and verifiable, and guarantee equal access of EU gas undertakings to consumers (see, to that effect, judgments of 20 April 2010, Federutility and Others, C‑265/08, EU:C:2010:205, paragraphs 20 to 22 and 47, and 10 September 2015, Commission v Poland, C‑36/14, not published, EU:C:2015:570, paragraphs 51 to 53).
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