The Energy Charter Conference, an inter-governmental organisation, represents the main governing and decision-making body for the Energy Charter Process and was established by the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty. The Energy Charter Treaty is the only multilateral legally-binding framework providing for rules in investment, trade, transit, and energy efficiency in the energy sector on a global scale.

The United States has been an observer to the Energy Charter Conference since the signing of the European Energy Charter in 1991, a political declaration that has stood as the founding pillar of the Energy Charter Process. Since then, the US also signed an updated political declaration, the International Energy Charter, in May 2015 at the International Energy Charter Ministerial Conference in The Hague, the Netherlands.