All EU countries are parties to the European Convention on Human Rights, the Paris Agreement, and the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), with the exception of Italy which withdrew from the ECT in 2016. However, countries which have withdrawn from the ECT, remain bound under the so-called sunset provision, which applies to the pre-existing qualifying investments for 20 years from withdrawal. In 2017, the Energy Charter Conference decided to modernise the treaty in order to respond to the demands of member countries that find it obsolete with regard to current investment agreements. EU Member State governments and the European Commission are negotiating an update to the ECT’s terms, but the talks have been slow and complex amid difficulties finding common agreement among the charter’s members.In September 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU ) held that EU climate polluters could not use the arbitration system under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) to claim compensation in disputes between Member States. In February 2022, a ruling by the CJEU stated that Article 26 [Settlement of Disputes between an Investor and a Contracting Party] of the ECT cannot be interpreted as applying between EU Member States.On 19-22 April 2022, the Twelfth Negotiation Round on the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) was held in the Energy Charter Secretariat in Brussels where the topic of dispute settlement was addressed. The next round of negotiations is scheduled to take place in Brussels on 16-20 May 2022.Ireland's position remains to support the European Commission's efforts to negotiate meaningful reform of the treaty in the first instance, while reserving the option to support a co-ordinated withdrawal should these efforts fail and if considered appropriate by Government to achieve our national renewable energy and climate ambitions.
