COBALT advised Ragn-Sells on a public procurement dispute


2020 - 03 - 25

COBALT successfully advised and represented Estonia’s largest waste handler, Ragn-Sells AS in a dispute concerning the public procurement of a waste removal concession organized by Vinni municipality. The dispute concerned determining in the waste removal contract documents of the place where the waste is to be treated.

In its judgment of 15.01.2015, in case 3-3-1-68-14, the Supreme Court gave guidance on how local authorities should conduct procurements of organized waste removal, and the most important guideline was to regulate the legal relations between the local government and the subsequent waste handler. In the Vinni waste removal concession, the legal relationship between the municipality and the waste handler referred to in the procurement document was unregulated. The local authority’s membership in the waste management centre, the designation of the centre as one of the potential waste management sites in the waste management regulations and the statutes of the waste management centre did not create a legal basis for waste management. Similarly, the Public Procurement Review Committee could not consider the contracting authority’s investment in the facility in 2007-2010 to be sufficient to justify directing the waste to the waste management centre.

The client was represented by Senior Associate Kadri Matteus.

Leading experts