Tallinn Administrative Court has suspended the fulfilment of the Competition Authority’s prescription until the Court delivers a final judgement regarding both tariff complaints

2/7/2012 2:30 AM EST

Tallinna Vesi
Company Announcement 

Tallinn Administrative Court has suspended the fulfilment of the Competition
Authority’s prescription until the Court delivers a final judgement regarding
both tariff complaints

In response to the Competition Authority’s prescription of 10 October 2011
which instructed the Company to submit a tariff application for reducing its
current tariffs by 29% by 14 November 2011 at the latest. On 9 November 2011
the company submitted to the Tallinn Administrative Court an application for an
injunction, asking the court to suspend the validity of the prescription until
the Court delivers a judgment regarding the associated complaint contesting the
prescription. 

On 06 February the Tallinn Administrative Court informed the Company that it
had agreed to the Company’s request for an interim injunction and is suspending
the fulfilment of the Competition Authority’s prescription until the Court
delivers a final judgement. The court also joined both, the current 2010
tariffs and the 2011 tariff application cases, so the prescription is suspended
until both complaints are resolved. 

This means that tariffs for all customer categories will be maintained at
current levels until the courts have made their final judgement. No court dates
have been yet set to start proceedings to review the complaint. The Company
will keep all investors informed of new developments as they become available. 

The Company appreciates the court’s choice to not take any preliminary
positions regarding the tariffs before they have made their final decision and
allow due legal process to take its course. We will be waiting for the court to
consequently start weighing each party’s evidence and make an informed decision
based upon the privatisation contract as whole. 

The Company considers the situation where it has to defend itself in court
against the Estonian authorities solely for fulfilling the terms and conditions
of the privatisation contract as laid down by the Estonian authorities
themselves to be surprising. The Company has continuously stated its belief in
fully transparent regulation and its willingness to enter into meaningful and
evidence based dialogue that takes into account the privatization contract
signed in 2001. However to date the Competition Authority has flatly refused to
analyse the economic and operational performance of the company since 2001,
making any such discussions impossible. 

The Company would also like to take this opportunity to inform its customers
that ASTV remains committed to delivering the same excellent levels of water
and wastewater services that are required by the privatisation agreements and
to which they have become accustomed in the past eleven years. 


         Mariliis Topp
         AS Tallinna Vesi
         Head of Communications
         62 62 275