Article 34: Energy Charter Conference

(a) The provisional Secretary General should make immediate contact with other international bodies in order to discover the terms on which they might be willing to undertake tasks arising from the Treaty and the Charter. The provisional Secretary General might report back to the provisional Charter Conference at the meeting which Article 45(4) requires to be convened not later than 180 days after the opening date for signature of the Treaty.

(b) The Charter Conference should adopt the annual budget before the beginning of the financial year.

(1) The Contracting Parties shall meet periodically in the Energy Charter Conference (referred to herein as the “Charter Conference”) at which each Contracting Party shall be entitled to have one representative. Ordinary meetings shall be held at intervals determined by the Charter Conference.

(2) Extraordinary meetings of the Charter Conference may be held at such times as may be determined by the Charter Conference, or at the written request of any Contracting Party, provided that, within six weeks of the request being communicated to the Contracting Parties by the Secretariat, it is supported by at least one-third of the Contracting Parties.

(3) The functions of the Charter Conference shall be to:

  • (a) carry out the duties assigned to it by this Treaty and any Protocols;
  • (b) keep under review and facilitate the implementation of the principles of the Charter and of the provisions of this Treaty and the Protocols;
  • (c) facilitate in accordance with this Treaty and the Protocols the coordination of appropriate general measures to carry out the principles of the Charter;
  • (d) consider and adopt programmes of work to be carried out by the Secretariat;
  • (e) consider and approve the annual accounts and budget of the Secretariat;
  • (f) consider and approve or adopt the terms of any headquarters or other agreement, including privileges and immunities considered necessary for the Charter Conference and the Secretariat;
  • (g) encourage cooperative efforts aimed at facilitating and promoting market-oriented reforms and modernisation of energy sectors in those countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics undergoing economic transition;
  • (h) authorise and approve the terms of reference for the negotiation of Protocols, and consider and adopt the texts thereof and of amendments thereto;
  • (i) authorise the negotiation of Declarations, and approve their issuance;
  • (j) decide on accessions to this Treaty;

The provisional Charter Conference and the Charter Conference provided for in the Treaty shall henceforth be responsible for making decisions on requests to sign the Concluding Document of the Hague Conference on the European Energy Charter and the European Energy Charter adopted thereby.

 

  • (k) authorise the negotiation of and consider and approve or adopt association agreements;
  • (l) consider and adopt texts of amendments to this Treaty;
  • (m) consider and approve modifications of and technical changes to the Annexes to this Treaty;

The technical changes to Annexes might for instance include, the listing of nonsignatories or of signatories that have evinced their intention not to ratify, or additions to Annexes N and VC. It is intended that the Secretariat would propose such changes to the Charter Conference when appropriate.

  • (n) consider and approve the listing of signatories in Annexes BR or BRQ or in both these Annexes;

A signatory which does not apply the Amendment adopted on 24 April 1998 provisionally may at the time that it takes action to apply that Amendment, whether on a definitive or a provisional basis, notify the Secretariat in writing that until it is listed in Annexes BR and BRQ, it will apply the Amendment as if all items of Energy Materials and Products and of Energy-Related Equipment continued to be listed in Annexes EM I and EQ I.

The Amendment shall apply accordingly to such a signatory.

Any signatory may at any time withdraw the notification referred to above in writing to the Secretariat.

On the issue of future listing of countries on Annexes BR and BRQ, I conclude that all delegations are aware of the long standing positions of those delegations which like Australia, Hungary and Japan have repeatedly underlined that they support legally binding tariff commitments provided their commitments under the Energy Charter Treaty reflect their commitments in the WTO. This also reflects the position of other delegations, and there is a general acceptance among delegations that they will give positive consideration to that position at the time when the decision on legally binding tariff commitments is taken.

 

Editor's note: Document CC 124, point 6, of 24 May 1998 (not published). This Statement was read out by the Chairman to the Adoption Session on 24 April 1998 and also circulated in written form. This Statement, which reflected the outcome of informal consultations, replaced a draft Declaration on the issue of listing on Annexes BR and BRQ, the text of which was consequently deleted from the text for adoption.

  • (o) consider and approve the addition of items to Annex EM II from Annex EM I with the corresponding deletion of those items from Annex EM I and consider and approve the addition of items to Annex EQ II from Annex EQ I with the corresponding deletion of those items from Annex EQ I;

A signatory which does not apply the Amendment adopted on 24 April 1998 provisionally may at the time that it takes action to apply that Amendment, whether on a definitive or a provisional basis, notify the Secretariat in writing that until it is listed in Annexes BR and BRQ, it will apply the Amendment as if all items of Energy Materials and Products and of Energy-Related Equipment continued to be listed in Annexes EM I and EQ I.

The Amendment shall apply accordingly to such a signatory.

Any signatory may at any time withdraw the notification referred to above in writing to the Secretariat.

In the case of a signatory, not a member of the WTO, which is listed in Annexes BR or BRQ or both, any concession offered formally in the process of its accession to the WTO with respect to Energy Materials or Products listed in Annex EM II or Energy-Related Equipment listed in Annex EQ II shall, for the purpose of this Article, be regarded as a commitment under the WTO.

  • (p) appoint the Secretary General and take all decisions necessery for the establishment and functioning of the Secretariat including the structure, staff levels and standard terms of employment of officials and employees.

(4) In the performance of its duties, the Charter Conference, through the Secretariat, shall cooperate with and make as full a use as possible, consistently with economy and efficiency, of the services and programmes of other institutions and organisations with established competence in matters related to the objectives of this Treaty.

(5) The Charter Conference may establish such subsidiary bodies as it considers appropriate for the performance of its duties.

(6) The Charter Conference shall consider and adopt rules of procedure and financial rules.

(7) In 1999 and thereafter at intervals (of not more than five years) to be determined by the Charter Conference, the Charter Conference shall thoroughly review the functions provided for in this Treaty in the light of the extent to which the provisions of the Treaty and Protocols have been implemented. At the conclusion of each review the Charter Conference may amend or abolish the functions specified in paragraph (3) and may discharge the Secretariat.