Czech Supreme Administrative Court overturns injunction blocking Dukovany contract

The Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) has overturned, following appeals on points of law filed by Elektrárna Dukovany II (EDU II) and KHNP, an interim injunction that barred the signing of a contract to build new units at Dukovany. The order granting the interim injunction has therefore been remanded to the Brno Regional Court, which must reconsider it in light of the higher court’s legal opinion. The NSS announced this in a press release on its website; the full ruling is also available on the court’s official noticeboard. Nothing now prevents the contract from being signed, as the lawsuit itself does not have suspensive effect. The Brno Regional Court will reconsider the interim injunction, acting spokeswoman Martina Charvátová told CTK in response to a question.

The NSS noted, among other things, that before issuing an interim injunction, a court must assess how likely the lawsuit is to succeed—in other words, whether it is well-founded. “The Supreme Administrative Court’s 10th panel found that the lawsuit appears, on a preliminary assessment, to be unfounded,” the NSS said.

It also said that in such a case, the court must assess the extent to which the public interest outweighs the interests of the company seeking to prevent the contract from being signed. “The NSS disagreed with the regional court’s view that the public interest in signing the contract promptly was comparable to the interest in preventing harm to the claimant (EDF) and to the interest in ensuring a full review of the contracting authority’s actions and those of the Office for the Protection of Competition,” the court added in its press release. CTK is seeking comment from the companies.

The Brno Regional Court will reconsider the interim injunction. “The court is bound by the NSS’s conclusions. Once the Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling becomes final, it will therefore reconsider the application for an interim injunction. At the same time, the court is also taking the steps needed to rule promptly on the lawsuit itself,” Charvátová told CTK.

The government had planned to sign the final agreement with KHNP on 7 May. The day before, the Brno Regional Court blocked the signing with an interim injunction. EDU II, which is responsible for the nuclear tender, and the tender’s winner, KHNP, challenged the injunction by filing appeals on points of law with the NSS. EDU II also applied to the Brno Regional Court to have the interim injunction lifted. The court will hear EDF’s lawsuit itself on 25 June.

KHNP’s current offer is valid until the end of June. Harry Chang, KHNP’s vice president for nuclear power plant projects in Czechia, told Czech Television that it is uncertain whether the offer to build the nuclear units will be extended.

The government decided to build two nuclear reactors last July. It chose the offer from South Korea’s KHNP over that of France’s EDF. It had already excluded another bidder, Westinghouse, from the competition. The Czech Competition Authority rejected EDF’s objections, and its chairman, Petr Mlsna, upheld the decision at the end of April.

The construction of new nuclear units in Czechia is expected to be the country’s largest contract. At current prices, the cost of the currently preferred plan to build two reactors at Dukovany is 407 billion crowns.