Energy Law in Europe

The energy sector in Europe is changing rapidly under the influence of, inter alia, trends towards globalization, liberalization, competition, de-monopolization, and (re-)regulation. Within the European Community this process has been triggered by the European Commission's Internal Energy Market programme of 1988. Subsequently, several Directives have been issued which have changed the face of the European energy market. This book provides an overview of these important developments at the international, European, and national levels. The first chapter provides an overview of the most important principles of international law of relevance for the energy sector. This is followed by analysis of pertinent international organisations such as the IEA and the NEA. The Energy Charter Treaty is addressed in a separate chapter in acknowledgement of its importance as the first international agreement which provides arrangements exclusively for the entire energy sector, i.e. both with regard to the exploration and production of petroleum and the transport and trade of the energy produced. The first half of the book concludes with extensive analysis of developments within the EC.
It includes an examination of the key EC Treaty provisions as well as of the Directives which have been issued since 1988. The second half of the book describes the way in which these Directives have been implemented in several countries of the EEA. In order to understand the differences between the individual Member States, each national chapter commences with a short analysis of the constitutional and regulatory framework. This is followed by an examination of the upstream and downstream energy sector, with the extent of coverage determined by the resource base of each country. Thus, for example, more attention is paid to exploration and production of oil and gas in the North Sea countries than in southern european member states. Anticipating the need to implement the Kyoto protocol, analysis of the promotion of energy saving, energy efficiency and the promotion of renewable energy is also found in the national chapters. The book concludes with a comparison of legal developments in Europe and addresses the key question 'are we heading towards an international energy market?'