{"id":8054,"date":"2020-10-05T08:32:32","date_gmt":"2020-10-05T13:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cf.iisd.net\/itn\/?p=8054"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:31:11","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T16:31:11","slug":"latest-round-of-talks-on-ect-modernization-yields-little-progress-on-modernization-european-officials-call-for-removal-of-protection-for-fossil-fuels-and-isds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2020\/10\/05\/latest-round-of-talks-on-ect-modernization-yields-little-progress-on-modernization-european-officials-call-for-removal-of-protection-for-fossil-fuels-and-isds\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest round of talks on ECT modernization yields little progress on \u201cmodernization\u201d; European officials call for removal of protection for fossil fuels and ISDS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two rounds of the negotiations for the modernization of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/tag\/energy-charter-treaty\/\"><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips67'>ECT<\/span><\/a> have been held over the past two months, from July 6 to 9 and September 8 to 11, 2020.<\/p>\n<p>As we <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2020\/03\/10\/ect-modernization-conference-meets-in-december-2019-sets-stage-for-2020-negotiating-meetings\/\">reported<\/a>, negotiations began in December 2019, and several negotiation rounds were scheduled for 2020, which have been, to date, held by video conference.<\/p>\n<p>Among the topics slated to be discussed during these rounds are investment protection and <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips43'><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips58'>ISDS<\/span><\/span>, with some ECT signatories, including the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips117'>EU<\/span>, pushing for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2020\/06\/20\/eu-releases-proposal-for-ect-modernization\/\">\u201cmodernization\u201d<\/a> of the treaty\u2019s approach to ISDS.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energycharter.org\/media\/news\/article\/public-communication-on-the-first-negotiation-round-on-the-modernisation-of-the-ect-publichn\/?tx_news_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=News&amp;tx_news_pi1%5Baction%5D=detail&amp;cHash=b6cdd9f2d9d67f87cd5751584c407c91\">July round of negotiations<\/a> focused on investment protection, including definitions of investor and investment and substantive provisions, while the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energycharter.org\/media\/news\/article\/public-communication-on-the-second-negotiation-round-on-the-modernisation-of-the-energy-charter-trea\/\">September round<\/a> included discussion on several issues related to dispute settlement, including frivolous claims, security for costs, third-party funding, transparency, and valuation for damages.<\/p>\n<p>While a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energycharter.org\/media\/news\/article\/public-communication-on-the-second-negotiation-round-on-the-modernisation-of-the-energy-charter-trea\/\">public statement<\/a> from the ECT notes that \u201cseveral delegations\u201d are in favour of modernization of ISDS, the secretary-general of the ECT has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euractiv.com\/section\/energy\/news\/obsolete-energy-charter-treaty-must-be-reformed-or-ditched-lawmakers-say\/\">reportedly<\/a> admitted that reaching a consensus on this matter will be difficult, and several signatories, including Japan and Central Asian states dependent on fossil fuel revenues, are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2020\/09\/08\/japan-blocks-green-reform-major-energy-investment-treaty\/\">resistant<\/a> to reform of ISDS in the ECT.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, dozens of representatives from the European Parliament, as well as from national parliaments of member states, have signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euractiv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/Statement-on-Energy-Charter-Treaty-ENG_080920.pdf\">declaration<\/a> calling for the removal of protections for fossil fuel investments and the \u201cscrapping\u201d or \u201creform\u201d of ISDS provisions. Failure to do this, these representatives argue, should result in the EU\u2019s withdrawal from the ECT by the end of 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The next negotiation round will take place from November 3 to 6, 2020.<!--more--><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips32','International Institute for Sustainable Development<!--more-->'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips33','Institut international du d\u00e9veloppement durable'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips34','Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips43','investor\u2013state dispute settlement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips58','soluci\u00f3n de controversias inversionista-Estado'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips60','Investment Treaty News'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips65','East African community'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips72','Investment Court System'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips106','asociaci\u00f3n p\u00fablica-privada'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips117','European Union'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two rounds of the negotiations for the modernization of the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips67'>ECT<\/span> have been held over the past two months, from July 6 to 9 and September 8 to 11, 2020.<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1956],"class_list":["post-8054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-energy-charter-treaty"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}