CSTO PA Model Law On Energy Security is designed to protect the most important component of the sovereignty of the Organization’s States

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of energy security as an essential component of national security of a state in the 21st century. Without its consistent provision it hardly makes sense to talk of the full sovereignty of a state.
Therefore, strengthening collective security in all spheres, including energy and security of its facilities, is a relevant task for the CSTO Member States.
Model Law On Energy Security was developed to increase the effectiveness of legal regulation in this area, to unify and harmonize CSTO Member States’ legislation.
Draft Model Law On Energy Security was developed by a team of the Institute of Good Governance and Civil Society Studies of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation in accordance with 2016–2020 CSTO PA Action Plan on Approximation and Harmonization of National Legislation of the CSTO Member States “to increase efficiency of legal regulation in this area, unify and harmonize CSTO Member States’ legislation.”
According to its authors, this model law was designed to regulate the following:
– ensuring the security of international energy corridors whose disruption could deal a serious blow to the security of CSTO Member States;
– ensuring anti-terrorist security of energy facilities;
– developing a system of objective indicators of energy security and monitoring the state of energy security
– developing and implementing measures to create a system of industrial safety and physical protection of energy facilities;
– unifying norms, rules and technical regulations in the area of ensuring energy security and improving energy efficiency;
– information, innovation, scientific and technical support of energy security;
– training of personnel in the area of ensuring energy security.
Notably, this law has much in common with another model law, On Security of Critical Facilities, and this is no accident, since virtually all facilities in the energy sector are critical for the functioning of the state. These model acts were developed at virtually the same time and they largely complement each other.
Energy security has a large list of various criteria, such as sufficiency of energy resources, their availability, reliability of energy supply, energy conservation and energy efficiency, anti-terrorist protection of FEC facilities, and many others.
Moreover, different Member States of the Collective Security Treaty Organization may face different tasks of ensuring energy security; therefore, aspects of energy security of some states include, for example, issues of non-discriminatory access to foreign energy markets, ensuring security of transportation of energy resources, including transit, through the territory of partner countries, while for other CSTO States the issue of self-sufficiency of energy resources may be more relevant.
Regardless, the common tasks of ensuring energy security facing all CSTO States without exception are so important that they fully justify the need to harmonize legislation in this area.
The Model Law On Energy Security was adopted at the 10th Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization on October 13, 2017 in St Petersburg, in the Mariinsky Palace.
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