The Czech Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) removed the blocking of the contract between the South Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and the Czech side for the major €16bn Dukovany nuclear power plant enhancement.

The signing of the contract between KHNP and EDU II, the joint venture of the Czech state and the majority state-owned energy utility ČEZ, was blocked by a preliminary measure issued by the regional court in Brno last month, after one of the unsuccessful bidders for the Dukovany project, French Électricité de France (EDF), filed a lawsuit against the selection of KHNP.

“NSS found the preliminary measure illegal and partly unexaminable,” the NSS statement of its ruling from June 4 reads. Both EDU II. and KHNP filed appeals to NSS following the Brno regional court ruling.

The NSS statement adds that decisions on issuing preliminary measures “must evaluate whether a public interest in completing the public tender outweighs the interest of the tender participant,” and that the tenth NSS senate “arrived at a different conclusion” than the regional court, noting the lawsuit appears “unreasonable.”   

The NSS ruling now enables KHNP and EDU II to sign the contract, while the courts attend to the EDF lawsuit.

Just last week, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala admitted his cabinet may not be able to sign the contract before the October elections, as it has no power over the court decision-making and its timing, noting that his centre-right cabinet is not worried about the looming EU review of the tender under the foreign subsidy rules.

Last month, European Vice President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stéphane Séjourné also asked Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček that the Czech side wait to sign the Dukovany contract with KHNP.

Last summer, ČEZ, which is responsible for the tender, recommended that the Czech government pick KHNP as the contractor for the building of two nuclear units at Dukovany, with potentially another two units at the younger Temelín NPP to be built later. ČEZ has already spent CZK3.6bn (€141mn) on preparatory works.

As per media reports, EDF also objected to the lack of transparency in the tender proceedings, which were exempted from public procurement on security grounds. EDF’s lawsuit came after the country’s antitrust office, ÚOHS, turned down the complaint filed by EDF against the selection of KHNP in its final ruling.