French EDF files lawsuit against Czech antitrust authority ruling on Dukovany tender

French company EDF has filed a lawsuit with the Regional Court in Brno against a ruling by the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), which rejected its objections to the nuclear tender for new units at Dukovany. The company announced this in a press release. Last week, ÚOHS Chairman Petr Mlsna said that any suspensive effect on further developments in the tender would be entirely at the court’s discretion. Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s (ODS) government announced this week that it wants to sign the final agreement with South Korea’s KHNP on Wednesday, May 7.

„On May 2, 2025, EDF filed a lawsuit with the Regional Court in Brno against the decision of the Office for the Protection of Competition, which rejected EDF’s appeal on April 24, 2025. EDF remains firmly committed to defending its rights and will use all available legal means to do so,“ the company said in a statement.

ČEZ said it does not yet know the precise contents of the lawsuit. „We have to wait for the court’s decision,“ ČEZ spokesman Ladislav Kříž told the Czech News Agency. State-owned ČEZ evaluated the final bids for the construction of the new units at Dukovany and, following a government decision, began contract negotiations with KHNP last July. The government preferred the Korean bid over EDF’s. The other bidder – the Canadian-American company Westinghouse – had already been excluded from the tender.

The antitrust authority dealt with the contract for several months. Both unsuccessful bidders filed objections to the selection of their competitor, challenging the Korean company’s right to use the technology it had offered and the transparency of the process. EDF specifically argued that the Foreign Subsidies Regulation had been violated. Both companies also called the contracting authority’s procedure unlawful, arguing, among other things, that it had failed to comply with the fundamental principles of public procurement, particularly in connection with the selection of the preferred supplier. ÚOHS rejected the objections, and Mlsna also dismissed the companies’ appeals on April 24.

The construction of new nuclear units in Czechia is expected to be the country’s largest-ever contract. At current prices, the cost of the currently preferred option of building two reactors at Dukovany is 400 billion crowns. The first unit at Dukovany is expected to be completed in 2036. Construction will be financed through a state loan to Elektrárna Dukovany II, the company in charge of the project. The state will newly hold an 80% stake in the company, for which it will pay ČEZ 3.6 billion crowns. The company will repay the state loan over 30 years after the reactors are completed.