NEC WILL NOT APPEAL THE ARBITRATION RULING RELATED TO BELENE NUCLEAR PROJECT

Bulgarian state-owned National Electricity Company (NEC) will not appeal the ruling by the International Arbitration Court in relation to Belene nuclear project. The reason is that such ruling is not subject to appeal.

Bulgaria owes more than 10.7 million euro of expenses for the proceedings, Legal firm White & Case LLP, which represented the interest of NEC at the arbitration court, said in a memo, made public on the Bulgarian government’s website.

The international legal firm says that NEC has no option to appeal the arbitration ruling. The only option is to appeal it in local courts in Switzerland, but the grounds for an appeal were limited because the arbitration rulings on commercial matters are considered final and binding.

The memo of the American law firm was drafted at the request of the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.

There is, however, a possibility for technical corrections and appeal of interpretations and Bulgaria has already requested for that. The Russian Atomexportstroy has already accepted four of the seven errors pointed out by the Bulgarian side. This will reduce the amount owed by NEC.