Energy Charter Treaty: A View from India

In the aftermath of the disintegration of the former Soviet Union and the re-emergence of Central Asian republics as newly independent states in the early 1990’s, the Energy Charter Treaty [ECT] was envisaged as the multilateral legal instrument to undergird new global energy relations. The ECT seeks to offer comprehensive coverage of legal issues around international energy trade, transit, foreign investment, and dispute settlement. Despite its global ambitions as an institution, the Treaty, in practice, is mostly relevant in the energy relations between Europe and Central Asia. With Turkmenistan and Afghanistan being members of the ECT, the TAPI (Turkmenistan- Afghanistan- Pakistan-India) Pipeline Consortium being registered as an ECT Contracting Party entity may have significant legal implications for all States concerned, especially with reference to the construction and operation of the proposed TAPI Gas Pipeline Project. The present study seeks to critically review the promise and limits of the ECT framework from an Indian perspective.