Trade-related provisions within the Energy Charter Treaty
The European Commission has adopted a proposal concerning the Community's position on amending the trade-related provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty and the provisional application of such amendments. The Energy Charter Treaty was signed on 17 December 1994 by 49 countries plus the European Communities, and although it has not formally entered into force, it has been provisionally applied since its signature. This proposal from the Commission refers specifically to amendments to the trade provisions of the Treaty in the light of the results of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. The trade provisions of the Treaty (Article 29) will now cover not only trade in energy materials and products, but also energy-related equipment. Other trade-related provisions of the Treaty, such as those concerning customs duties, will be governed by the relevant provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement, instead of the outdated provisions of the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). These amendments, once approved by the Council, would apply provisionally in respect of the EU until formally adopted at the Energy Charter Conference by signatories to the Treaty.