(Bloomberg) -- The European Union said gas importers in the bloc could continue paying for Russian fuel without breaking sanctions imposed on Moscow.

The European Commission sent its revised guidelines to member states on Friday, a spokesperson said on Monday. In the updated recommendations, it also said companies should make a clear statement that they consider their obligations fulfilled once they pay in euros or dollars.

EU sanctions “do not prevent economic operators from opening a bank account in a designated bank for payments due under contracts for the supply of natural gas in a gaseous state, in the currency specified in those contracts,” the guidance says, according to people familiar with matter. “Operators should make a clear statement that they intend to fulfil their obligations under existing contracts and consider their contractual obligations regarding the payment already fulfilled by paying in euros or dollars, in line with the existing contracts.” 

The guidance does not prevent companies from opening an account at Gazprombank and will allow them to purchase gas in accordance with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But it stops short of addressing the requirement by Moscow to open a second account in rubles, which according to a decree by President Vladimir Putin is needed to make the payment complete.

The guidance matches what Bloomberg reported on Saturday.

Read: EU Drafts Plan for Buying Russian Gas Without Breaking Sanctions

In full, the guidance says: “Council Regulation (EU) 833/2014 and Council Regulation (EU) 269/2014 do not prevent economic operators from opening a bank account in a designated bank for payments due under contracts for the supply of natural gas in a gaseous state, in the currency specified in those contracts for the fulfilment of payments pursuant thereto, provided that payments are made in that currency, under normal commercial conditions, it being understood that such payments in that currency discharge definitively the economic operator from the payment obligations under those contracts, without any further action from their side as regards the payment. For that purpose, those operators should make a clear statement that they intend to fulfil their obligations under existing contracts and consider their contractual obligations regarding the payment already fulfilled by paying in euros or dollars, in line with the existing contracts.”

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