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The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is an international agreement which establishes a multilateral framework for cross-border co-operations in the energy industry. The treaty covers all aspects of commercial energy activities including trade, transit, investments and energy efficiency. The treaty is legally binding, including dispute resolution procedures.〔http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/energy/external_dimension_enlargement/l27028_en.htm〕 Originally, the Energy Charter process was based on integrating the energy sectors of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War into the broader European and world markets. Its role however extends beyond East-West cooperation and through legally binding instruments strives to promote principles of openness of global energy markets and non-discrimination to stimulate foreign direct investments and global cross-border trade. Awards and settlements of the international arbitrations put forward by breaking the law of the Energy Charter Treaty are sometimes in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2014, the nearly-10 year long Yukos case was decided in favor of the claimants on the basis of the Treaty, with a record-breaking $50 billion award. ==History== The beginnings of the Energy Charter date back to a political initiative launched in Europe in the early 1990s. The time at end of the Cold War offered an unprecedented opportunity to overcome previous economic divisions between the nations on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The clearest prospect for mutually co-dependent beneficial cooperation was the energy sector, given Europe's growing energy demand and vast resource availability in post-Soviet nations. Additionally there was a recognised need to ensure that a commonly accepted foundation was established for developing energy cooperation among the states of Eurasia. On the basis of these considerations, the Energy Charter process was born.〔 〕 The original Energy Charter declaration was signed in The Hague on 17 December 1991. It was a political declaration of principles for international energy including trade, transit and investment, together with the intention to negotiate a legally binding treaty, setting the beginning of the development of the Energy Charter Treaty. One of the final hurdles was to find language to ensure national sovereignty over natural resources, while enshrining the principle of international cooperation in order to allow outside access to those resources. Negotiators also succeeded in assuring Austria and Switzerland that they would not bear an undue transit burden for energy resources.〔Charles Goldsmith (November 22, 1991), (To Help Soviets Tap Vast Resources: 36 Nations Agree on Energy Charter ) "International Herald Tribune"〕 A Secretariat was set up to accommodate the dialogue amongst the contracting parties, which later transformed into the Energy Charter Secretariat, mandated by the Energy Charter Conference. The legally binding treaty was signed in Lisbon in December 1994, together with a Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects ((PEEREA )). The treaty and the protocol came into effect in April 1998. An amendment to the trade-related provisions reflecting the change from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to World Trade Organization processes was also agreed at that time.〔 In December 2007, the Energy Charter Conference reaffirmed its support for the finalisation of negotiations and adoption of the Energy Charter Protocol on Transit in order to expand the existing provisions of the treaty.〔http://www.encharter.org/index.php?id=37〕 In this context, the conference resolved to ask the Energy Charter Group on Trade and Transit to return to multilateral consultations on the draft Transit Protocol during 2008, with a report back to the Conference on the outcome of these consultations at the end of 2008. In October 2011, the European Union presented a new common position with regard to the negotiations on the draft Transit Protocol. It argued that in view of the developments in the international energy situation, the developments in the Energy Charter constituency and, most notably, the lack of progress in the negotiations and consultations on the Transit protocol in recent years, it appeared no longer opportune to continue the negotiations on a Transit Protocol on the current basis. Taking into account the position of the EU, the Charter Conference decided on 29 November 2011 to repeal the negotiation mandate of 2009. On 22 March 2010, a Strategy Group was established within the Energy Charter Conference, with a mandate to promote modernisation. While the origin of the Energy Charter Treaty is rooted in Russia-EU relations, the treaty is the only multilateral legal framework of its kind and is expanding beyond its original purposes.〔http://www.europeanenergyreview.eu/site/pagina.php?id_mailing=281&toegang=e3796ae838835da0b6f6ea37bcf8bcb7&id=3737〕 Part of this expansion is physical, and a policy on Consolidation/Expansion/Outreach (CONEXO) was formulated to guide the approach of new countries as signatories of the declaration or Treaty. On 20 May 2015, a major milestone in modernisation and expansion was reached, as 72 Countries plus the EU, Euratom and ECOWAS signed the International Energy Charter. The International Energy Charter is a political declaration about principles for international energy cooperation, and is intended as a first step towards accession to the legally binding Energy Charter Treaty. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Energy Charter Treaty」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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