On 25.02.2013 Harju County Court dismissed Riigi Kinnisvara AS’s (RKAS) claim against AS Tallinna Vesi in its entirety. RKAS is , a 100% state-owned company that disputed the dual tariffs that were the basis of the Company’s privatisation, claiming that billing RKAS a commercial tariff for Tallinn prison is illegal and they should be billed a domestic tariff. RKAS claimed from AS Tallinna Vesi compensation of alleged damages in the amount of 301 987,35 eur without explaining the legal basis of their claim.
The court ruled, that AS Tallinna Vesi is obliged to comply with and adhere to City of Tallinn’s water tariff regulations, which foresee no exceptions for Tallinn prison or RKAS, which is why the Company had neither the right nor the possibility to offer these legal persons a service with a price foreseen for domestic consumers. Any action to the contrary would have resulted in a breach of applicable law. The court also pointed out that RKAS had the possibility to apply for an exemption from Tallinn City Government (which RKAS did in 2005) and when the Tallinn City Government refused to grant said exemption, then RKAS had the possibility to dispute this refusal in administrative court, which they forfeited.
On 31 August 2012, RKAS brought a case on similar grounds as against the Company also against the City of Tallinn but in the administrative court. Both, Tallinn Administrative Court and Tallinn District Court dismissed their complaint and the Supreme Court did not take the case for review. Among other things, Tallinn District Court concluded in the ruling that has now taken effect that the respective City of Tallinn’s water tariff regulations are not obviously null and void, but valid.
RKAS has the right to appeal Harju County Court’s 25.02.2013 ruling to Tallinn District Court within 30 days.
Ilona Nurmela
Member of the Management Board
AS Tallinna Vesi
62 62 246