On May 14, 2018, Members of the Energy Charter Conference consulted with industry, through its Industry Advisory Panel, on the potential modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Ms Sofía Sanz (Spain), Chair of the subgroup on modernisation, conducted the meeting with the support of the Vice-Chair, Mr Sunao Orii (Japan). The Consultation focused on investment protection standards, the right to regulate, transit and other topics contained in the conference decision (CCDEC201723) regarding consultation with industry and Observers. Based on the internal discussions during 2018 and consultations with Observers and industry, the Energy Charter Secretariat will prepare a report identifying a list of potential topics for (i) clarification by a declaration in 2018 and/or (ii) to be included in a closed list of potential topics, that could be confirmed during the 2019 review under Art. 34.7 of the ECT, for (a) amendment and/or (b) negotiation of additional legally and/or non-legally binding tools.

The following day the Implementation Group had a constructive meeting conducted by its Chair, Ms Klara Rakhmetova (Kazakhstan). The group discussed the latest statistics on ECT investment arbitration cases and the first draft of a Model Investment Dispute Prevention and Management Protocol prepared with the support of several government officials and the IMI Investor-State Mediation Task Force. The Model Protocol could be voluntarily used as a reference or guide by those states who do not have one already in place (or by those who want to update/extend the one they already have). In doing so, they could adapt the Model Protocol to their particular needs and circumstances. Therefore, the Model Protocol contains several options that could be considered by each state. The Secretariat will now continue consultations with government officials dealing with investment disputes and relevant international institutions (ICSID, ICC, SCC, PCA, UNCITRAL) while also preparing an explanatory note to further facilitate the use of the Model Protocol. The Secretariat also informed about the successful completion of the 2nd edition of the investment mediator training in Paris in cooperation with ICSID, CEDR and IMI.