Annexes ID & IA and Unconditional Consent to Arbitration

 
Unconditional Consent to International Arbitration

Investor-State disputes under Part III of the ECT are governed by Article 26 which provides that an investor may, following a cooling-off period of 3 months, submit the dispute to resolution:

  1. to the courts or administrative tribunals of the host state party to the dispute;
  2. in accordance with a previously agreed dispute settlement procedure; or
  3. to international arbitration.

If the investor opts to submit the dispute to arbitration, the investor then has the further choice between an arbitration under the rules of ICSID, UNCITRAL or the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

In that respect, States give their unconditional consent under Article 26(3) to the submission of a dispute to international arbitration.
 

Exceptions to Unconditional Consent under ECT Article 26(3)(a)

There are two exceptions to a State's unconditional consent to international arbitration under Article 26(3)(a):

 
Annex ID - States listed under Annex ID do not give unconditional consent in cases where the investor has already submitted the dispute to a national court or tribunal (option 1) or to a previously agreed mechanism (option 2). States listed under Annex ID must provide a written statement of policies, practices and conditions to the Secretariat. Please click here to download the Transparency Document on Policies, Practices and Conditions of Contracting Parties listed in Annex ID (in PDF format).

States listed under Annex ID are: Australia*; Azerbaijan; Bulgaria; Canada脗掳; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; European Communities; Finland; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Kazakhstan; Mongolia; Norway*; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Russian Federation*; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Turkey; United States of America脗掳
 
 
Annex IA - States listed under Annex IA do not give unconditional consent with respect to a dispute arising under the last sentence
of Article 10(1) ("umbrella clause"). 

States listed under Annex IA are: Australia*; Canada脗掳; Hungary; Norway*

* denotes State for which ratification of the Energy Charter Treaty is still pending
脗掳 Canada and the United States of America have not signed the Energy Charter Treaty