Ministry seeks to ‘turn off the lights’ on Dukovany: key contracts may no longer be accessible in the Register of Contracts

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is proposing a broader amendment to the so-called Low-Carbon Act, primarily intended to technically harmonise the rules for supporting new nuclear sources. For the public, however, the most visible change is a restriction on transparency: selected key contracts relating to the construction of nuclear units, including the contract for difference supporting new sources, would no longer have to be published in the Register of Contracts, while some documents already published could be made inaccessible.

This week, the Ministry of Industry and Trade published a draft amendment to the so-called Low-Carbon Act, namely Act No. 367/2021 Coll. on measures for the transition to low-carbon energy, as well as the related Energy Act and Register of Contracts Act. Formally, it is primarily an adjustment of the support mechanism, the processes for concluding contracts and the settlement of balancing payments for new nuclear sources.

The amendment is intended to introduce a settlement regime agreement as the basic support model, i.e. an equivalent of a two-way contract for difference, while a purchase agreement is to remain an alternative if the government provides for it by resolution. The ministry justifies the proposal by saying that the European Commission’s current decision-making practice favours the use of the settlement regime.