56It should therefore be noted that, although State intervention in the fixing of the price of natural gas constitutes an obstacle to the achievement of a competitive natural gas market, that intervention may nonetheless 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, second, it must comply with the principle of proportionality and, third, the public service obligations that it lay downs must be clearly defined, transparent, non-discriminatory and verifiable, and guarantee EU gas undertakings equal access to consumers (see, to that effect, judgment of 7 September 2016, ANODE, C‑121/15, EU:C:2016:637, paragraph 36 and the case-law cited).
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