4 The Nature of International Obligations Regarding Transit of Energy: from Bilateral to Indivisible Obligations

Subject(s):

ECT (Energy Charter Treaty) — Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

Chapter 4 classifies treaty obligations concerning transit with a view to determining which state is injured under the law of international responsibility and can invoke responsibility including by recourse to countermeasures against the responsible transit state. The question posed is to whom is each obligation owed. The analysis in this chapter also assists in determining which treaty party may have recourse to means available in the treaty where the treaty does not contain sufficiently express rules on standing, a matter which is analysed in Chapter 6. The analysis illustrates the polyphony of primary rules vis-à-vis their nature, and argues that bilateralism is not the only model in this area of international law (either in form or in substance). Rather, a number of treaties create collectively owed obligations: some erga omnes partes and some interdependent..