EU Law in Non-EU Countries: Reflections on Ukrainian Supreme Court’s Jurisprudence on Energy Matters

Abstract

Following its accession to the Energy Community Treaty and the conclusion of the association agreement with the EU, Ukraine implemented key EU acquis in energy by way of adoption of primary laws. They incorporate “instruments of EU legal integration,” i.e. provisions not required in the EU but included to ensure that the EU law is correctly transposed and applied in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Supreme Court in its recent jurisprudence made conclusions on legal aspects of their application, namely: on the place of EU case-law in the Ukrainian legal system, the value of opinions of the Energy Community Secretariat (ECS) as well as the obligation to conduct consultations with the European Commission and the ECS. While the acceptance of guidance from European institutions on application of EU acquis is commendable, there seems to be room for improvement in the way the Supreme Court applies principles of EU law, in particular related to the functioning of energy markets.