This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
The Energy Charter Treaty and Protocol
SUMMARY OF:
WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DECISION AND THE TREATY?
KEY POINTS
The key clauses of the Energy Charter Treaty concern protecting investment, trade in energy materials and products, transit and dispute settlement.
Commerce, investment, trade and protections
The treaty’s provisions include:
Sovereignty over energy resources
The treaty recognises countries’ sovereign rights over energy resources and reaffirms that these must be exercised in accordance with international law, without affecting the general objective of promoting access to energy resources, and their exploration and commercial development.
Environmental aspects
Transparency
Parties to the treaty must designate at least one inquiry point to which requests for information on laws, regulations, legal decisions and general administrative decisions regarding energy materials and products may be addressed.
Dispute settlement
The treaty includes provisions for resolving disputes between participating states through diplomatic channels and ad hoc tribunals, and — in the case of investments — between investors and host states. If an investor dispute cannot be settled amicably within 3 months, investors may choose to submit it for resolution to:
Signatories, the Energy Charter Conference, protocols and declarations
Exceptions
Parties must not make any trade-related investments inconsistent with the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which established the World Trade Organization (WTO), and nothing in the treaty exempts WTO members from the agreement.
The treaty does not preclude any signatory from measures:
Energy Charter Protocol
The protocol was adopted in accordance with the treaty. Its objectives include:
International Energy Charter
A new International Energy Charter was adopted and signed in 2015 by over 65 countries and organisations, including the EU and all EU countries. The purpose of this new charter is to engage as many new countries as possible who are willing to cooperate in the field of energy and who recognise the importance of energy security for energy-producing, -transit and -consuming countries. The new charter builds upon and modernises the Energy Charter of 1991.
DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE
The Energy Charter Treaty entered into force on 16 April 1998, with amendments on trade-related provisions, principally to replace references to the GATT with the WTO, applying from 23 July 1998.
BACKGROUND
See also:
MAIN DOCUMENTS
Council and Commission Decision 98/181/EC, ECSC, Euratom of 23 September 1997 on the conclusion, by the European Communities, of the Energy Charter Treaty and the Energy Charter Protocol on energy efficiency and related environmental aspects (OJ L 69, 9.3.1998, pp. 1-116)
Final Act of the International Conference and Decision by the Energy Charter Conference in respect of the amendment to the trade-related provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty - Joint Declarations - Annex I: Amendment to the Trade-Related Provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty - Annex II: Decisions in connection with the Adoption of the Amendment to the Trade-Related Provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty (OJ L 252, 12.9.1998, pp. 23-46)
Final Act of the Conference on the European Energy Charter - Annex 1: The Energy Charter Treaty - Annex 2: Decisions with respect to the Energy Charter Treaty (OJ L 380, 31.12.1994, pp. 24-88)
RELATED DOCUMENTS
Energy Charter Conference — Rules concerning the conduct of the conciliation of transit disputes (OJ L 11, 16.1.1999, pp. 39-44)
Council Decision 2001/595/EC of 13 July 2001 on the conclusion by the European Community of the Amendment to the trade-related provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty (OJ L 209, 2.8.2001, p. 32)
Council Decision 1999/37/EC of 26 November 1998 on the position to be taken by the European Community on the rules concerning the conduct of the conciliation of transit disputes to be adopted by the Energy Charter Conference (OJ L 11, 16.1.1999, pp. 37-38)
last update 25.05.2020