Trade in electricity under WTO and EAEU Law: compatibility of two legal regimes†

Accession of Russia and Kazakhstan to the World Trade Organization (WTO) constitutes a landmark event in the history of this organization, especially in relation to trade in energy, in general, and trade in electricity, in particular. As a result, the role of the WTO in regulating trade in electricity has increasingly grown. However, the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, a treaty that binds both Russia and Kazakhstan, necessitates additional regulation for trade in electricity, concurrent with law of the WTO. Recently, this treaty was amended by the Protocol on Common Electricity Market on 1 July 2019. As a result, compatibility issues between the rules of the WTO and the Eurasian Economic Union arise. This article concludes that the law of the WTO can be relevant to trade in electricity between Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union and third countries because of the specific place of the rules of the WTO under the Eurasian Economic Union legal order.