18 DE ABRIL DE 1996

636-(43)

"VER DIÁRIO ORIGINAL"

FINAL ACT OF THE EUROPEAN ENERGY CHARTER CONFERENCE

I — The final plenary session of the European Energy Charter Conference was-held at Lisbon on 16-17 December 1994. Representatives of the Republic of Albania, the Republic of Armenia, Australia, the Republic of Austria, the

Azerbaijani Republic, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Bulgaria, Canada, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Republic of Estonia, the European Communities, the Republic of Finland, the French Republic, the Republic of Georgia, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Hellenic Republic, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Iceland, Ireland, the Italian Republic, Japan, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Latvia, the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Republic of Lithuania, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Moldova, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Poland, the Portuguese Republic, Romania, the Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic, the Republic of Slovenia, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Swe den, the Swiss Confederation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and the Republic of Uzbekistan (hereinafter referred to as «the representatives») participated in the Conference, as did invited observers from certain coutries and international organizations.

Background

fl -- During the meeting of the European Council in Dublin in June 1990, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands suggested that economic recovery in Eastern Europe and the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics could be catalysed and accelerated by cooperation in the energy sector. This suggestion was welcomed by the Council, which invited the Commission of the European Communities to study how best to implement such cooperation. In February 1991 the Commission proposed the concept of a European Energy Charter.

Following discussion of the Commission's j^vosal in the Council of the European Communities, the European Communities invited the other countries of Western and Eastern Europe, of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the non-European members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to attend a conference in Brussels in July 1991 to launch negotiations on the European Energy Charter. A number of other countries and international organizations were invited to attend the European Energy Charter Conference as observers.

Negotiations on the European Energy Charter were completed in 1991 and the Charter was adopted by signature of a Concluding Document at a conferente held at The Hague on 16-17 December 1991. Signatories of the Charter, then or subsequently, include all those listed in Section I above, other than observers.

The signatories of die European Energy Charter undertook to pursue the objectives and principales of the Charter and implement and broaden their cooperation as soon as