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This chapter examines the international aspects of EU energy law and policy. These include the bilateral relations and legal instruments in this area; the various aspects of the association agreements, energy dialogues, and the Cotonou Agreement; and multilateral cooperation, focusing on the Energy Charter Treaty and the Energy Community Treaty. Finally, the chapter looks at sensitivities in the relationship between EU law and international law.

The tension between the often urgent need for effective legal arrangements in modern international law and the much slower internal procedures for finalization of commitment to treaties has lead to the practice of provisional application of treaties. Many treaties provide for their provisional application pending final ratification by the states parties and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties has codified authoritative practice. But two recent arbitral awards, in applying Article 45 of the Energy Charter Treaty, have created some confusion.

This Chapter deals with the issue of energy security in the UK. Although energy security is commonly viewed from the perspective of consumers, this Chapter distinguishes the dual identities of the UK as an energy producer and a consumer state and highlights the policies aimed at ensuring energy security from both perspectives. The discussions first focus on the International Energy Agency’s Coordinated Emergency Response Measures and on the Energy Charter Treaty within the contexts of supply disruption mechanisms, energy diversification and access to markets. It subsequently introduces the European Union dimensions of the UK’s energy security. It considers the EU policies that have developed in parallel with the IEA measures, and those that developed in response to climate change concerns, and their impact on the UK’s energy security. The Chapter also views the energy security issue from the UK’s producer state identity and considers the policies aimed at increasing the indigenous production.

Chapter 6 addresses the Union law effects of EU foreign investment law. It begins with identifying the EU law rights and obligations of EU institutions and Member States arising from the regulation of foreign investment by the EU, focusing on the Union law obligation to comply and perform EU IIAs. Chapter 6 looks also extensively into the scope and application of the Union law obligation to respect the primacy and autonomy of Union law in the field of foreign investment regulation. It examines the compatibility of EU IIAs and, more importantly, of Member States BITs with EU law, it identifies the violations of Union law and assesses the suggested proposals for their remedy. This chapter considers also the enforceability of these Union law obligations, focusing on the scope of judicial review of EU and Member States actions in light of EU IIAs and the creation of individual rights.

This chapter focuses on two legal instruments: the Energy Community Treaty and the Energy Charter Treaty. The chapter provides an overview of the role of these two international treaties. For the Energy Charter Treaty, the focus is on the investment provisions of the Treaty.

This chapter offers insight into the often complicated impact of time on jurisdictional and substantive requirements under investment treaties. Issues of temporal jurisdiction versus the temporal scope of substantive provisions continue to divide and at times confuse the reasoning of investment treaty tribunals. A case survey confirms that the principle of non-retroactivity remains sacrosanct, with the exception of composite acts that begin before the effective date of a treaty and conclude after that date. The chapter also comments on certain special scenarios, such as the provisional application of the Energy Charter Treaty, the timing of investments for purposes of jurisdiction, and composite acts arising under both customary international law and the lex specialis represented by the treaty.