. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/CTE/COM/12 
11 April 2006 
 (06-1688) 
Committee on Trade and Environment Original:   English 
  
 
REQUEST FOR OBSERVER STATUS BY THE 
ENERGY CHARTER CONFERENCE 
  
 The following information has been received from the Energy Charter Conference requesting 
observer status in the Committee on Trade and Environment.  
 
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 The Energy Charter Conference is an internati onal organization which is based on the Energy 
Charter Treaty (ECT).  The ECT came into force in 1998 and is now signed by 51 countries (and the European Communities), and ratified by 46 countries.  Eight of the Charter member countries are not WTO Members, while seven of them are engaged in the WTO accession process.
1 
  The ECT covers investment protection in the energy sector as well as the terms under which 
energy can be traded and transported across national bor ders to international markets.  In this regard, 
the Energy Charter process has a natural and in-built  affinity with the WTO, since the rules of the 
multilateral trading system are incorporated into the ECT as the basis for energy trade and transit 
between its member countries.  Non-derogation from the provisions of GATT/WTO is a core 
principle of the Treaty. 
 
 On the important strategic question of energy transit, the provisions of the Energy Charter 
Treaty develop the principles of GATT Article V to address issues connected with grid-bound energy 
transport.  The Contracting Parties of the Charte r have also been engaged in recent years in the 
negotiation of an additional Transit Protocol to th e ECT, which would elaborate in more detail some 
specific operational aspects of energy transit, su ch as conditions for access to networks and the 
criteria for establishing transit tariffs. 
  A key benefit of making the WTO rules appli cable in the ECT has been that all Energy 
Charter Contracting Parties – whether WTO Member s or not, whether energy suppliers, transit or 
consumer countries – have benefited from the unifo rm application of the rules of the multilateral 
trading system in the energy sector.  Moreover,  the GATT/WTO approach embedded in the ECT has 
provided – and continues to provide – a useful exte rnal anchor for trade reforms in those Energy 
Charter member states that ar e looking to join the WTO. 
 
                                                     
 
1 The ECT signatories are:  Albania,  Armenia, Austria, Australia(*), Azerbaijan, Belarus(**), Belgium, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmar k, Estonia, European 
Communities, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gr eece, Hungary, Iceland(*), Ireland, Italy, Japan, 
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, L ithuania, Luxembourg, Ma lta, Moldova, Mongolia, 
Netherlands, Norway(*), Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation(**), Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, 
Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The fo rmer Yugoslav Republic of Macedoni a, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, 
Uzbekistan, United Kingdom.  (*) country which has not ratified the Treaty , (**) country which has not ratified 
the Treaty but which applies it provisionally .  Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russian Federation, 
Ukraine, Uzbekistan are in  the WTO accession process. WT/CTE/COM/12 
Page 2  
 
   The ECT underlines the importance of energy efficiency and its relation to a cleaner 
environment and commits its members to minimize  in an economically efficient manner harmful 
environmental impacts of all operations along the ener gy chain in pursuit of sustainable development.  
Concrete actions that the Contrac ting Parties have to undertake incl ude promotion of market-oriented 
price formation and a fuller reflec tion of environmental costs and be nefits;  development and use of 
renewable energy sources;  promotion of the use of cleaner fuels and technologies that reduce 
pollution;  and promotion of the transfer and di ssemination of such technologies.  Moreover, the 
supplementary Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects requires the Contracting Parties to encourage the implementati on of innovative approaches for financing energy 
efficiency, introduction of fiscal and financial incentives for the diffusion of energy efficient 
technologies, commercial trade and cooperation in th e area of energy efficient and environmental 
sound technologies.   The perspectives for cooperation between the WT O and the Energy Charter were discussed in 
a recent meeting between the Secretary General of th e Energy Charter Secretariat, Mr André Mernier, 
and the WTO Director-General Mr Pascal Lamy.  The WTO is an observer to the Energy Charter 
Conference, and as such has the right to attend all working meetings of the Charter Conference and its subsidiary bodies.  The Energy Charter Conf erence is an observer to the WTO Ministerial 
Conference, and a representative of the Secretariat attended the Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December 2005.  
 However, in order to maximize the synerg ies between our respective organizations, the 
Energy Charter Conference wishes to apply for observer status with the Committee on Trade and 
Environment of the WTO.  In the meantime, while this matter is under consideration, I hope there 
may be a possibility for the Secretariat to be invited, on an ad-hoc basis, to attend relevant meetings of 
the Committee. 
 
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