Treaties on transit of energy via pipelines and countermeasures

• Main Author: Azaria, D.
• Published: University College London (University of London) 2013
• Subjects: 340
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.626036

This thesis elucidates the relationship between treaties on transit of energy via pipelines on the one hand and countermeasures as a means of implementation of international responsibility and as circumstances precluding wrongfulness on the other. It begins with an examination of the content and scope of treaty obligations and considers their nature as either bilateral or indivisible international obligations. After illustrating the polychromy of institutional structures created in these treaties for dispute settlement and compliance supervision, this study demonstrates that countermeasures remain the central means of enforcement in this area of international law. It argues that numerous treaty obligations concerning transit of energy via pipelines are oriented towards genuine multilateralisation. This trend has not extinguished countermeasures as a means of unilateral enforcement, but increasingly limits their form. Countermeasures in the form of suspending performance with treaty obligations concerning trade and transit via pipelines are either excluded or do not meet the conditions of lawfulness under general international law.