Originally from EU Law and International Investment Arbitration - IAI Series No. 11

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The first part of the debates focused on questions related to the articulation of ECT and EU law (1).  The second part revolved around the Achmea Judgment recently rendered by the ECJ  and its theoretical foundations (2).

I. PROBLEMS RELATED SPECIFICALLY TO THE ECT AND EU LAW

The problems arising from the interaction between investment treaty law and the European Union law are particularly evident in the energy field.  Many of the fundamental legal problems raised are related to the operation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).

A. The Operation and Scope of Article 16 of the ECT

The discussion focused first on Article 16 of the ECT  which governs the relations between the ECT and other international agreements, such as the TFEU.  Indeed, the Rapporteur argued that:

[w]here two parties to the ECT are already parties or become parties to another treaty covering the same subject matter as Parts III (investment protection standards) and V (dispute resolution) of the ECT, nothing in the provisions of the other treaty shall be construed to derogate from these Parts of the ECT, including, in particular, any right to dispute resolution which is more favourable to the investor or the investment than that provided under the other treaty.