Court rejects EDF's lawsuit over Czech nuclear tender ruling

The Regional Court in Brno has dismissed a lawsuit by French company EDF against a decision by the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) concerning the tender to build new units at the Dukovany nuclear power plant. The ÚOHS had rejected EDF's objections to the procurement process. The parties may challenge the ruling by filing a cassation complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS).

The antitrust office did not examine the tender conditions themselves because the supplier was selected by Elektrárna Dukovany II (EDU II) outside a procurement procedure, under a security exemption. Under the law, objections to the contracting authority's procedure cannot be filed in such cases. The court considered whether the ÚOHS should have assessed the tender conditions themselves or was right to rule that EDF could not file objections under the law. It ruled in favour of the antitrust office.

According to Judge Jan Čížek, the ÚOHS acted correctly, as required by the nature of the security exemption.