Acceptance

According to the Article 96 of the Treaty, any neighbouring third country may be accepted as an Observer to the Energy Community. At its first meeting in Nov 2006,  the Ministerial Council adopted a Procedural Act 2006/05/MC-EnC on acceptance of countries as Observers. The following rules and principles apply:

1. The applicant country must submit reasoned request to the Presidency in Office.

2. The Presidency shall notify the request to the Ministerial Council at the next meeting.

3. The Presidency may ask the Secretariat to prepare additional information in relation to the request.

4. The decision of the Ministerial Council shall be taken unanimously.

Rights and Obligations

According to the  Procedural Act 2006/05/MC-EnC, the Observers have the following rights and obligations: 

1. The Observers to the Energy Community have the rights to be represented at the institutional meetings.

2. The Observers are entitled to receive any information distributed before, during and after the
relevant meetings.

3. The Observers follow any requirements for confidentiality, which are valid to the Parties.

4. The Observers may make statements upon request and consequent permission by the Chair.

Observers at present

The 1st Ministerial Council accepted  Moldova, Norway, Turkey and Ukraine as an Observer to the Energy Community Treaty. Upon reasoned request by Georgia, the Ministerial Council accepted Georgia as an Observer in Dec 2007. Similarly, Armenia was granted an Observer status by the 9th Ministerial Council in Oct 2011.

 After having received the Observer status, Moldova, Ukraine and Turkey formally expressed their interest in full membership. Whilst Moldova became a full fledged member as of 1 May 2010, Ukraine officially acceded the Energy Community on 1 February 2011.

As of 6 Oct 2011, the following Observers are part of the process:
 

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