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Toronto, Canada - The Russian majority-owned company behind the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2 AG, has resumed efforts to convince an international tribunal that the European Union's amendments to natural gas market regulations were solely aimed at complicating the pipeline project.

In a brief filed on February 27 and made public on Friday, Nord Stream 2 AG argued that the regulatory changes, which ostensibly aim to prevent market distortion, were actually designed to discriminate against the Nord Stream pipeline. The company claimed that the amendments adversely impact the pipeline project without serving any genuine public policy purpose.

"It adversely impacts claimant without practically serving any public policy ground ... Claimant is not aware of any other case where the EU legislator has adopted a seemingly neutrally worded directive with the sole objective of complicating or preventing a single investment project," the brief stated. "To pretend that the objective of the amending directive is something else is fanciful. No court or tribunal can accept such a fiction."

This filing marks the first substantial move in the case since it was suspended for nearly 19 months following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Nord Stream 2 AG noted that while the two pipelines in its project became operational in 2021, one of the pipelines remains non-operational following an apparent sabotage attempt in September 2022. The pipelines stretch over 750 miles through the Baltic Sea, connecting Russia and Germany.

Majority-owned by Russian state-controlled Gazprom, Nord Stream 2 AG argued that it is the EU's regulatory amendments, not the sanctions imposed on Russia, that threaten to drive the company into bankruptcy. Despite these challenges, the EU continues to receive Russian natural gas imports, the company pointed out.

The tribunal has been asked to rule that the regulatory amendment violates the Energy Charter Treaty, an aging trade pact signed by numerous countries within and outside the EU. In April, European lawmakers overwhelmingly agreed to withdraw from the treaty, criticizing it for overly protecting fossil fuels.

The arbitration is being conducted in Toronto, Canada, under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) rules and is administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

This briefing follows a decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) nearly two years ago that revived Nord Stream 2's parallel court challenge to the amendment. The directive in question requires gas producers to be independent from the companies controlling pipelines.

Nord Stream 2 AG contended in its February brief to the UNCITRAL tribunal that the ECJ's decision clarifies that the directive specifically targets Nord Stream 2, attributing this discriminatory treatment to the EU rather than individual member states like Germany.

"Simply put: the ECJ judgment and the ECJ opinion provide the tribunal with everything it needs for the correct understanding and interpretation of the amending directive," the brief asserted.

Representatives and counsel for the parties could not be reached for comment outside business hours in Europe on Friday.

Nord Stream 2 AG is represented by Kaj Hobér of 3 Verulam Buildings. The European Union is represented by its Legal Service.

The case is Nord Stream 2 AG v. The European Union, case number 2020-07, in the Permanent Court of Arbitration.