ECT meaning in Associations & Organizations ?

The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is an international agreement that establishes a multilateral framework for cross-border cooperation in the energy industry. The treaty covers all aspects of commercial energy activities including trade, transit, investments and energy efficiency. The treaty contains dispute resolution procedures both for States Parties to the Treaty (vis-a-vis other States) and as between States and the investors of other States, who have made investments in the territory of the former.

Initially, the Energy Charter process aimed to integrate the energy sectors of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War into the broader European and world markets. Its role, however, extends beyond east–west cooperation and, through legally binding instruments, strives to promote principles of openness of global energy markets and non-discrimination to stimulate foreign direct investments and global cross-border trade.

Awards and settlements of the international arbitrations put forward by breaking the law of the Energy Charter Treaty are sometimes in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2014, the nearly 10-year-long Yukos case was decided in favour of the claimants on the basis of the treaty, with a record-breaking $50 billion award.

Full versions of the treaty, both consolidated and official, are freely accessible.