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The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues

The Energy Charter Treaty: Energy security, investment protection and future developments. The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues. Graham Coop graham.coop@encharter.org General Counsel Energy Charter Secretariat www.encharter.org

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The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues

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  1. The Energy Charter Treaty: Energy security, investment protection and future developments The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues Graham Coop graham.coop@encharter.org General Counsel Energy Charter Secretariat www.encharter.org BIICL Investment Treaty Forum, 18 September 2008 Charles Clore House, London

  2. The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues • From the nineties to the noughties: plus ça change…. • The development of ECT investment arbitration • The notions of “investment” and “investor” • Denial of advantages under Article 17 • Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • The ECT and the European Union

  3. The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues • From the nineties to the noughties: plus ça change…. • The development of ECT investment arbitration • The notions of “investment” and “investor” • Denial of advantages under Article 17 • Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • The ECT and the European Union

  4. Dispute settlement Investment protection Energy efficiency Transit Trade Energy Charter Treaty • The four pillars of the ECT

  5. Energy Charter Treaty constituency Energy Charter Treaty Signatory States (1994) Observer States Countries of ASEAN (observer status granted to ASEAN, represented by the ASEAN Centre for Energy) 5

  6. Freedom of transit ECT Article 7 (1) Each Contracting Party shall take the necessary measures to facilitate the Transit of Energy Materials and Products consistent with the principle of freedom of transit and without distinction as to the origin, destination or ownership of such Energy Materials and Products or discrimination as to pricing on the basis of such distinctions, and without imposing any unreasonable delays, restrictions or charges.

  7. The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues • From the nineties to the noughties: plus ça change…. • The development of ECT investment arbitration • The notions of “investment” and “investor” • Denial of advantages under Article 17 • Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • The ECT and the European Union

  8. The information above was compiled from various public sources; while the Secretariat has made every efforts to ensure that this information is reliable, its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. For more details on the cases, please consult www.encharter.org

  9. The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues • From the nineties to the noughties: plus ça change…. • The development of ECT investment arbitration • The notions of “investment” and “investor” • Denial of advantages under Article 17 • Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • The ECT and the European Union

  10. Applicable definitions of “Investment” and “Investor” ECT Articles 1 (6) and 1 (7) Investment: Every kind of asset (e.g. shares, claims to money, intellectual property, licences, concessions) owned or controlled directly or indirectly by an Investor Investor:natural persons of a CP (including permanent residents), and companies/organisations organised in accordance with the laws of a CP

  11. Applicable definitions of “investment” and “investor” • Petrobart v. Kyrgyz Republic • Parties to dispute: Petrobart Limited: company registered in Gibraltar. Kyrgyzgazmunaizat (“KGM”): state joint stock company in the Kyrgyz Republic The dispute: Dates: • 23 February 1998: Supply contract concluded between Petrobart and KGM for the supply and transfer of stable gas condensate • February and March: failure to pay supply – interruption of delivery • 1998-1999: proceeding before domestic courts • 2000-2003: UNICTRAL Arbitration • 2003- 2005: SCC arbitration Claim: • Violation of Article 10 (1) ECT • Jurisdiction The arbitration: 1 September 2003: Petrobart’s request for arbitration against the Kyrgyz Republic submitted to the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce 23 May 2005: award rendered

  12. Applicable definitions of “investment” and “investor” • Petrobart v. Kyrgyz Republic • (extracts from Final Award dated 29 March 1995) • The Arbitral Tribunal … notes that the Contract … concerned the sale of goods at an agreed price. … The question is whether Petrobart’s right under the Contract to payment for goods delivered under the Contract was an asset and constituted an investment under the Treaty (pp. 69 and 71) • Article 1(6)(c) of the Treaty provides that as assets constituting an investment are to be counted “claims to money and claims to performance pursuant to contract having an economic value and associated with an investment” (p. 71). … • Thus, a right conferred by contract to undertake an economic activity concerning the sale of gas condensate is an investment according to the Treaty. This must also include the right to be paid for such a sale (p. 72). • The Arbitral Tribunal thus concludes on this point that Petrobart was an investor having an investment in the Kyrgyz Republic and that the Republic owed Petrobart protection under the Treaty (p. 72).

  13. The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues • From the nineties to the noughties: plus ça change…. • The development of ECT investment arbitration • The notions of “investment” and “investor” • Denial of advantages under Article 17 • Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • The ECT and the European Union

  14. Mailbox companies ECT Article 17 Each Contracting Party reserves the right to deny the advantages of this Part to: (1) a legal entity if citizens or nationals of a third state own or control such entity and if that entity has no substantial business activities in the Area of the Contracting Party in which it is organised….

  15. Mailbox companies • Plama v. Republic of Bulgaria • Parties to dispute: Plama Consortium Limited: a company incorporated in Cyprus Republic of Bulgaria The dispute: Ownership Denial of benefits (ECT Art.17 (1)) The arbitration: Decision on jurisdiction: 8 February 2005. • Tribunal has jurisdiction based on ECT • MFN clause of Bulgaria/Cyprus BIT

  16. Mailbox companies • Plama v. Republic of Bulgaria • (extracts from Decision on Jurisdiction dated 8 February 2005) • The tribunal decides that the Respondent’s case on Article 17(1) cannot support a complaint to the jurisdiction of the Tribunal in this case (p. 48). • In the Tribunal’s view, the existence of a “right” is distinct from the exercise of that right. For example, a party may have a contractual right to refer a claim to arbitration; but there can be no arbitration unless and until that right is exercised. In the same way, a Contracting Party has a right under Article 17(1) ECT to deny a covered investor the advantages under Part III; but it is not required to exercise that right; and it may never do so. The language of Article 17(1) is unambiguous; and that meaning is consistent with the different state practices of the ECT’s Contracting States under different bilateral investment treaties: certain of them applying a generous approach to legal entities incorporated in a state with no significant business presence there (such as the Netherlands) and certain others applying a more restrictive approach (such as the USA). The ECT is a multilateral treaty with Article 17(1) drafted in permissive terms, not surprisingly, in order to accommodate these different state practices (p. 49).

  17. Mailbox companies • Plama v. Republic of Bulgaria • (extracts from Decision on Jurisdiction dated 8 February 2005) • The tribunal has also considered whether the requirement for the right’s exercise is inconsistent with the ECT’s object and purpose. The exercise would necessarily be associated with publicity or other notice so as to become reasonably available to investors and their advisers. To this end, a general declaration in a Contracting State’s official gazette could suffice; or a statutory provision in a Contracting State’s investment or other laws; or even an exchange of letters with a particular investor or class of investors. By itself, Article 17(1) ECT is at best only half a notice; without further reasonable notice of its exercise by the host state, its terms tell the investor little and for all practical purposes, something more is needed. For these reasons, in the Tribunal’s view, the interpretation of Article 17(1) ECT under Article 31(1) of the Vienna Convention requires the right of denial to be exercised by Contracting State (p. 50). • In the Tribunal’s view, therefore, the object and purpose of the ECT suggest that the right’s exercise should not have retrospective effect (p. 51).

  18. Mailbox companies • Petrobart v. Kyrgyz Republic • (extracts from Final Award dated 29 March 2005) • Petrobart is managed by … a company registered in England with its principal office in London, which is handling many of Petrobart’s strategic and administrative matters. Petrobart therefore has substantial business activities in the Area of a Contracting Party, i.e. the United Kingdom, in the meaning of Article 17 of the Treaty (p. 63). • The Arbitral Tribunal attaches weight to theinformation about Petrobart provided by Petrobart itself which, in the Arbitral’s Tribunal’s view, contradicts the view that Petrobart is a company owned or controlled by citizens or nationals of a state other than the United Kingdom and that Petrobart has no substantial business in the United Kingdom. The Arbitral Tribunal therefore considers that the conditions for application of Article 17(1) of the Treaty are not present in this case (p. 63).

  19. The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues • From the nineties to the noughties: plus ça change…. • The development of ECT investment arbitration • The notions of “investment” and “investor” • Denial of advantages under Article 17 • Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • The ECT and the European Union

  20. Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application ECT Article 45 (1) Each signatory agrees to apply this Treaty provisionally pending its entry into force for such signatory in accordance with Article 44, to the extent that such provisional application is not inconsistent with its constitution, laws or regulations.

  21. Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • Petrobart v. Kyrgyz Republic • (extracts from Final Award dated 29 March 2005) • … The United Kingdom, at the time of the signature of the Treaty on 17 December 1994, made a declaration under Article 45(1) of the Treaty [that] its provisional application … of the Treaty should extend to … Gibraltar.… Gibraltar was not mentioned in the instrument of ratification (p. 62). • According to Article 45(1) of the Treaty, provisional application of the Treaty undertaken by a signatory shall be valid “pending its entry into force for such signatory” (p. 62). • The Arbitral Tribunal has found …that the Treaty should be considered to continue to apply provisionally to Gibraltar, and the law of Gibraltar must in this context be regarded as being part of the law of one of the Contracting Parties, i.e. the United Kingdom. Petrobart therefore satisfies the condition of being an investor under Article 1(7) (p. 70).

  22. Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • Kardassopoulos v. Republic of Georgia • Parties to dispute: Mr Ioannis Kardassopoulos: Greek investor. Republic of Georgia The dispute: Dates: • 1991-1992: Joint venture formed in Georgia and negotiations entered into with Georgian government • 28 April 1993: 30-year concession granted to joint venture • 12 July 1995: Georgia deposited instrument of ratification of ECT • 20 February 1996: alleged expropriation took place • 4 September 1997: Greece deposited instrument of ratification of ECT The arbitration: 3 October 2005: Mr Kardassopoulos’s request for arbitration against the Republic of Georgia registered by ICSID 6 July 2007: Decision on Jurisdiction rendered

  23. Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • Kardassopoulos v. Republic of Georgia • (extracts from Decision on Jurisdiction dated 6 July 2007) • There is, nevertheless, in the Tribunal’s view a sufficiently well-established practice of provisional application of treaties to generate a generally accepted understanding of what is meant by that notion. Where what is in issue is, as in the present case, the provisional application of the whole treaty, then such provisional application imports the application of all its provisions as if they were already in force, even though the treaty’s proper or definitive entry into force has not yet occurred (p. 58). • An inevitable consequence of a provisional application clause in a complex treaty is that some of the treaty’s language, which will have been drafted with the intention of providing for the permanent situation which would exist upon and after the treaty’s definitive entry into force, may not fit precisely with the situation created by its provisional application.… The other remedy is to leave the treaty as it stands and to rely on an implicit acceptance of the need to apply it (provisionally) on a mutatis mutandis basis (p. 58).

  24. Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • Kardassopoulos v. Republic of Georgia • (extracts from Decision on Jurisdiction dated 6 July 2007) • So long as the intention of the negotiating States clearly shows that they intended the treaty to be provisionally applied, it cannot be accepted that that clear intention could be undermined by an insistence on applying the terms of the treaty in their strictly literal form (p. 59). • For all the foregoing reasons the Tribunal is satisfied that, properly interpreted in accordance with international law, the language used in Article 45(1) is to be interpreted as meaning that each signatory State is obliged, even before the ECT has formally entered into force, to apply the whole ECT as if it had already done so, and that the language used in Article 1(6), particularly its use of the term “entry into force”, is to be interpreted as meaning the date on which the ECT became provisionally applicable for Georgia and Greece (p. 59).

  25. Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application } • Yukos International • Hulley Entreprises v. Russian Federation • Veteran Petroleum Trust ?

  26. The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues • From the nineties to the noughties: plus ça change…. • The development of ECT investment arbitration • The notions of “investment” and “investor” • Denial of advantages under Article 17 • Temporal issues: entry into force and provisional application • The ECT and the European Union

  27. The ECT and the European Union • Eastern Sugar BV v. Czech Republic • (extract from Partial Award dated 27 March 2007) • [T]he Arbitral Tribunal is of the view that the BIT and the EU Treaty are not incompatible. • Free movement of capital and protection of the investment are different, but complementary things (p. 36).

  28. The Energy Charter Treaty: Energy security, investment protection and future developments The Energy Charter Treaty at Ten Years: Context and Key Issues Graham Coop graham.coop@encharter.org General Counsel Energy Charter Secretariat www.encharter.org BIICL Investment Treaty Forum, 18 September 2008 Charles Clore House, London

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