Bilina brown coal mine

ČTK

UOHS Dismisses Fine Against Severoceske doly Coal Mining

Brno, Aug 10 (CTK) – Czech anti-monopoly office UOHS cancelled a Kc30m fine it imposed on Severoceske doly (SD) coal mining company because it banned its customers from exporting coal, UOHS said on its website.

 

The company will not issue its stance on the fine’s cancellation for now because it has not yet received the decision, SD spokesman Lukas Kopecky told CTK.

 

In its previous decision, UOHS said SD had violated laws from 1994 until the end of 2012. However, the fine only applied to a period starting in May 2004, since the previous period has become statute barred. Through the ban on the export of coal SD supplied to its customers, it breached competition rules in both the Czech Republic and the European Union, UOHS ruled.

 

SD appealed the decision.

 

UOHS made some mistakes because of which the decision turned out to be unlawful, said UOHS chairman Petr Rafaj.

 

In 2017, SD reduced fixed operating costs and raised its net profit to Kc1.8bn. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) reached Kc4.1bn, and the company’s coal output topped 21 million tonnes.