DGKV has successfully represented the interests of CEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria AD in several cases before Bulgaria's Commission for Protection against Discrimination.
CEZ Razpredelenie is one of three public electricity suppliers in Bulgaria. According to DGKV, the cases involved allegations that the company had committed "ethnic discrimination" by installing commercial metering devices at an inaccessible height.
Two of the cases required to requests from preliminary rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union to clarify the meaning of the Race Directive (Directive 2000/43/EC), with DGKV representing CEZ before the EU Court of Justice on both occasions. One of the cases, DGKV reports "was decided by the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice, a confirmation of the matter’s legal complexity."
Subsequently, "the Commission for Protection against Discrimination has now decided two cases in CEZ Razpredelenie’s favour. The commission determined that the installation of metering devices at an inaccessible height in certain neighborhoods is not an act which leads to direct or indirect discrimination, but an objectively justified and lawful practice under CEZ’s obligations to society and clients in accordance with Art. 69 of the Energy Act, namely: guaranteeing citizens’ lives and health, ownership, quality of electricity, the continuity of electricity supply, and the security and reliability of the country’s energy system." According to DGKV, three similar cases are still pending before the anti-discrimination commission.
The DGKV team included Partner Angel Ganev and Senior Associates Elena Ivanova and Valentin Bojilov.
