A European court on Wednesday rebuffed a complaint from the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipeline companies that an EU law unfairly targets their links from Russia to Germany.

In its ruling, the General Court of the European Union said that the gas pipeline operators are not "directly concerned" by the EU rules, which are for member states to enforce.

The Swiss-based consortia, which are majority owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, had complained that a new EU directive adopted last year would hurt their funding.

Nord Stream 1 transports gas from Vyborg in Russia to Lubmin in northern Germany, under the Baltic Sea. Nord Stream 2 is a project which will run in parallel.

Their construction has generated diplomatic controversy, with critics alleging it makes Europe too reliant on Russian energy supplies and undermines pro-Western Ukraine.

Nord Stream argued that the EU rules had been drawn up to unfairly target their commercial enterprise, but the court found that the firms' legal actions were "inadmissable".

The directive, it ruled, was for member states to implement.

"The national regulatory authorities have a wide discretion as regards the grant of such exemptions or derogations and any specific conditions to which those exemptions or derogations may be subject," it said.