Dr Oliver Hailes has co-authored an opinion on whether the UK may enter into bilateral treaties to modify the protection of foreign investments and access to international arbitration under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), a multilateral energy cooperation treaty. The opinion was written in January and recently published online.
In early 2024, the UK decided that the ECT was outdated in view of the government’s commitment to a net zero energy transition. The UK officially withdrew on 27 April 2025, but investment protections and the UK’s offer to arbitrate are preserved until 2045 under a sunset clause.
An opinion was requested by two NGOs, Global Justice Now and the Trade Justice Movement, on whether the UK may disapply the 20-year sunset clause by entering into treaties with two or more ECT parties (inter se agreements), including the many EU member states that are also withdrawing on similar grounds.
The opinion was co-authored by Dr Hailes, Alexander Horne, Dr Veronika Korom and Dr Daniel Peat. It addresses several issues under the law of treaties, international investment law, UK constitutional law, European human rights law, and multilateral arbitration conventions.
The findings of the opinion were reported in Global Arbitration Review.
The full opinion is available here.