EU member states are starting internal deliberations on the recently renegotiated Energy Charter Treaty in council. Nikos Lavranos offers his assessment of the draft text and of what the revision heralds for the future of the agreement.
Author: Nikos Lavranos
Dutch Senate approves CETA ratification
Today, the Dutch Senate approved a law allowing The Netherlands to sign and ratify the whole EU-Canada trade agreement CETA – including its investment protection part – after years of fierce national debate on its merits.
Comment: How the EU disconnected itself from the Energy Charter Treaty
Last Friday Energy Charter Treaty diplomats endorsed changes to the agreement after more than two years of ’modernisation’ negotiations. Although the new text has not yet been published, a summary communication released by the ECT secretariat indicates that there will be significant changes. This effectively foreshadows a gradual ‘withdrawal’ of …
Comment: ECT fossil fuel coverage faces test of EU energy vs climate choices
The outcome of the latest round of negotiations towards the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty reveals that there will be sufficient flexibility to allow natural gas to remain in place for the coming years as an energy source in Europe.
UNCITRAL: ISDS ‘code of conduct’ negotiations meet first hurdles
UN Commission for International Trade and Investment Law Working Group III negotiations on ISDS reforms in Vienna started in earnest last week as diplomats got into the thick of talks on an arbitrator investment code. So far there has been little progress as divisions emerged over the scope of the …
ECJ pre-empts circumvention of intra-EU ISDS prohibition
The European Court of Justice confirmed that investor-state arbitration between European Union investors and member states is illegal, even if such arbitration is based on domestic legislation of an EU member state. Whilst EU investors can pursue arbitration internationally under new EU investment protection treaties, a major rule-of-law gap has …
ECJ puts paid to intra-EU Energy Charter Treaty investor-state arbitration
The European Court of Justice declared in a judgment on Thursday (2 September) that the investor-state arbitration system under the Energy Charter Treaty is not applicable within the European Union. This effectively puts an end to ECT arbitration within the EU and will significantly increase the pressure on the ongoing …
Comment: Will Solvit-Invest solve it?
The European Commission is planning to propose a mechanism to investors based in the EU that would at least partially compensate for the loss of investment protection guarantees included in bilateral investment treaties signed in an era before Central and Eastern European member states joined the European Union.
ECJ Advocate General: Intra-EU Energy Charter Treaty investor-state arbitration is illegal
The European Court of Justice’s Advocate General Szpunar opined that the investor-state arbitration system under the Energy Charter Treaty is not applicable within the European Union. This will further increase the pressure on the ongoing ECT modernisation process and might very well herald the end of the ECT within the EU.
UNCITRAL investor-state reform talks: appeals tribunal solution – more questions than answers
The latest round of negotiations among the member states of the UNCITRAL Working Group III on ISDS reforms held last week (8-12 February 2021) revealed increasing diversity rather than more unity among the parties on the future of investor-state dispute settlement and EU-sponsored plans for a multilateral court system. The …
