Within the framework of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, which is part of the World Trade Organization law, there are regimes directly related to the activities of Russian companies providing natural gas transportation services via pipeline transport. First and foremost, these are the most‑favored‑nation treatment as a general obligation and the national treatment as a specific obligation of WTO members in the context of trade in services. This article examines the qualification of measures introduced against Russian pipeline transport service providers in resolving the dispute between the European Union and its member states — Certain Measures Concerning the EU Energy Sector. The aim of the study is to identify the features of the qualification of measures affecting the trade of this type of service and to provide recommendations for their use to protect Russian interests within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union and bilateral gas supply agreements. The objectives of the study include analyzing the conclusions of the Arbitration Group regarding the classification of gas transportation via pipelines as a service and the presence or absence of violations of the General Agreement on Trade in Services concerning specific measures implemented by the European Union and its member states. The research uses general scientific methods (observation and description, analysis and synthesis, abstraction and classification), as well as special legal methods (formal legal, systemic, structural and functional, comparative legal). When forming the legal foundations for the supply of Russian natural gas within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union and bilateral cooperation with third countries, as well as developing gas transportation systems for this purpose, it is advisable to consider the practice of applying the General Agreement on Trade in Services in disputes between the European Union and its Member States — specific measures concerning the EU energy sector, regarding the determination of permissible regulatory measures for gas transmission system operators and their segments within WTO member territories as providers of pipeline transportation services.
Aleksei Shiyanov (Wed,) studied this question.