The New Kid on the Block: The Energy Charter Treaty

Abstract

On 16 April 1998, the Energy Charter Treaty entered into force. In many respects the ECT is a unique international instrument for the promotion of international co-operation in the energy sector.
One of the important functions of the ECT is to serve as an investment protection treaty for investments in the  energy sector. The ECT also provides for a dispute settlement mechanism for investor-state disputes. In Article 26(4) of the ECT, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce is listed as one arbitration option available to investors.
As of the end of 2017, the Arbitration Institute has handled 27 cases under the ECT, including pending cases. This case load, together with other investor-state arbitrations, has catapulted the Arbitration Institute into second place among the world’s arbitration institutions dealing with investment treaty arbitrations. The largest arbitration institution of this kind is ICSID at the World Bank.
This contribution will provide a general introduction and background to the ECT (Sections 2 and 3) and also briefly address two issues which are frequently dealt with in ECT arbitrations, viz., the so-called denial of benefits clause in Article 17 of the ECT (Section 4) and the fair and equitable treatment standard in Article 10(1) of the ECT (Section 5).