Cobalt has successfully represented Estonia's largest waste handler Ragn-Sells AS in a dispute regarding the public procurement of a waste removal concession organized by the Vinni municipality in northern Estonia.
Cobalt reports that “the dispute concerned determining, in the waste removal contract documents, the place where the waste is to be treated.”
According to the firm, “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 center, the designation of the center as one of the potential waste management sites in the waste management regulations and the statutes of the waste management center 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 center.”
Cobalt’s team was led by Senior Associate Kadri Matteus.