Investment conflict prevention tools are designed to facilitate resolution of investors’ grievances at a very early stage, thereby preventing their escalation into full blown legal disputes. Should the issue invoked by the investor still persist and escalate into a full dispute, conflict management tools allow for an effective and coordinated response from the host state. Conflict prevention and management mechanisms are fundamental to the maintenance of a long-term relationship between the investor and the host state. The ability of states to respond to investment-related issues strengthens existing investment relationships and contributes to the maintenance of those relationships in the...
Energy is critical to lasting economic growth, employment and environmental sustainability. The energy mix is changing on a global scale: the share of renewable energy has been rising in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue, despite the recent fall in fossil fuel prices. This change is driven by a range of market, technology and policy factors that vary from country to country. Creating favourable conditions for sustainable energy investments will be one of the greatest challenges in the years to come in Africa. In particular, African countries need to signal to investors that they are ready for capital inflows in affordable, reliable and sustainable energy.
Modern energy is essential for socio-economic development, and such investments in the energy sector are crucial in realizing universal energy access in Africa. In this regard, the East African Community (EAC) has embraced regional cooperation as a means of developing regional markets and also as a means of attracting more energy investments in East Africa.
For more than 25 years the Energy Charter Process has set rules for good governance in the energy sector, starting with the European Energy Charter (1991), then the Energy Charter Treaty (1994) and recently with the International Energy Charter (2015). As global energy markets evolve, the Energy Charter seeks to expand to other regions such as Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. This expansion project is part of the mandate of modernisation of the Energy Charter. Colombia and Chile are the first Latin American countries to sign the International Energy Charter, a declaration of political intention towards a new age of global energy cooperation. Since then, Colombia and the Energy...
The aim of this paper is to analyse the existing potential conditions and economic opportunities for regional electricity cooperation in the South Caucasus, and to work out policy recommendations on a potential technical Task Force to help achieve such cooperation. The paper is structured in three main chapters.
This report provides an overview of the Mozambican energy sector. The report presents national reforms against the core principles embodied in the International Energy Charter and the Energy Charter Treaty: security of supply and universal energy access, open and sustainable markets, national sovereignty, regional market integration, regulatory stability and predictability, research and technology transfer, and international cooperation.
Energy Cooperation between China and Central Asian countries is underpinned by strong economic rationale and institutional foundations. China should promote the establishment of a China-Central Asia energy community, particularly an energy transit community, in light of China’s recent advocacy of the "One Belt One Road" scheme. Due to the complexity of energy transit cooperation in the multistakeholder, multi-level and multi-policy dimensions, legal issues in energy transit regulation are intertwined with political, economic and social issues at both the inter- and intra-national level.
This occasional paper addresses major developments in cross-border electricity cooperation in the South Caucasus. The position of the South Caucasus, at a crossroads between the emerging Eurasian and European electricity markets, offers lucrative opportunities for cross-border trade and provides incentives for restoring the single transmission network that used to serve the countries of the region before the collapse of the Soviet Union. This study examines regulatory, economic, and political factors that affect the prospects of a regional electricity market. Accordingly, the paper is organised into three parts, addressing institutional, economic and political developments in the region, and...
Mexico is a leader for Latin America and the gate of North America for the rest of the continent. It has recently embarked on a thorough overhaul of its energy sector implying new constitutional foundations and an extensive development of secondary legislation and regulations.
On 8 February 2016, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce hosted the Energy Charter Forum in Stockholm. The event was jointly organised by the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the Energy Charter Secretariat and the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
According to the International Energy Agency, Brazil plays a central role in meeting the world’s oil needs through to 2035, accounting for one-third of the net growth in global supply. At the centre of the country’s efforts to become one of the world’s largest oil producers is a highly complex and capital-intensive deep-water project to develop its pre-salt basin oil reserves. The purpose of this paper is to briefly present the pre-salt project and its production challenges – both economic and political – demonstrating the potential benefits of the adoption of the International Energy Charter for its development.
The furore over the use of ISDS (Investor/State Dispute Settlement) in the United States/European Union Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations has illustrated the increasing distrust by some Governments and Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of the use of arbitration in resolving Investor/State disputes. Jean-Claude Junker, the President of the European Commission, has likened arbitral tribunals to “secret courts”. This criticism has also spilled over into domestic arbitration. The New York Times published two critical articles this year accusing arbitration of “stacking the deck of justice” and calling it a “privatisation of the justice system”. The articles...
The main purpose of this report is to assess the core pillars of the new legal framework provided by the Energy Community Treaty (EnC Treaty) and EU Energy Law with respect to cross-border gas trade and access conditions for natural gas transportation infrastructure. At the same time, it seeks to distinguish the differential treatment provided in the existing multilateral legal frameworks (Energy Charter Treaty and GATT/WTO) and the EnC Treaty/EU rules with regard to transit and cross-border trade.
