Introduction

The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) came into force in April 1998 and it currently gathers forty-seven Contracting Parties, including the European Union and the EURATOM, and one signatory applying the ECT provisionally. In 1999, the Energy Charter Conference decided to commence the negotiations on a Transit Protocol which would complement the existing provisions on transit under the ECT. The negotiations resulted in a draft Protocol with several outstanding issues remaining under discussion between Russia and the European Union (EU), but failed to materialize in a binding ...