AS Tallinna Vesi is providing further clarification on the details contained within the European Commission closure letter


On 20th of May 2014, the Competition Authority’s statement was published, which contained the following: "Today the Competition Authority is required to insist that AS Tallinna Vesi started to comply with the law, because the tariffs of water and sewerage services are too high. Furthermore, the actions taken by the Company so far are contradictory to the European Union competition law as also indicated by the relevant notification received recently from the European Commission.“

AS Tallinna Vesi would like to assure to its shareholders, that these statements are incorrect. The European Commission answer was focused only on the Internal Market, i.e. whether, in general, Member States can have discretion to introduce regulatory changes. The European Commission did not assess the lawfulness with regard to AS Tallinna Vesi of the application of the amendments made to the Anti-Monopoly Bill adopted in 2010. The European Commission also did not assess or comment upon the water tariffs of AS Tallinna Vesi and was explicit about leaving the legal opinion on the impact on the Company for the court to decide.

The privatization contract, which was concluded in 2001, was fully sponsored by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The contract was signed by the City of Tallinn, who was competent to regulate the water tariffs. The main terms and conditions of the contract were approved by the Government of the Republic of Estonia. Therefore, those authorities ensured the conformity of the signed contracts with the European Union competition law amongst other things.

         Mariliis Mia Topp
         AS Tallinna Vesi
         Head of Communications
         Tel: (+372) 62 62 275
         mariliismia.topp@tvesi.ee