Proceedings on-going before public administration courts involving Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka S.A. mainly concern disputes with local government units regarding property tax. This stems from the fact that in preparing property tax declarations LWB (like other mining companies in Poland) did not take into account the value of underground mining excavations or the value of equipment located therein. These cases concern refunds of overpayments and the way in which property tax base is calculated.
In order to protect the Group from any potential consequences in the form of late interest on property tax – provided that the municipalities' decisions that include equipment and support structures located inside mining excavations are eventually upheld – LWB in mid-2019 decided to include the value of underground excavations and equipment in calculations regarding this tax (given the majority of case law involving tax on elements of mining excavations).
The Management Board of ENEA S.A. filed in December 2018 a response to a lawsuit brought by the Company’s shareholder, Fundacja „CLIENTEARTH Prawnicy dla ziemi,” based in Warsaw, to cancel, determine the non-existence or repeal resolution no. 3 of the Extraordinary General Meeting of ENEA S.A. of 24 September 2018 regarding directional approval to join the Construction Stage of the Ostrołęka C project, and demanded that the lawsuit be rejected in its entirety as unjustified, along with reimbursement of court representation costs. The first hearing in the case was held on 10 April 2019, with no witnesses called to the hearing. The Court requested that the Company provide the Investment Agreement within 14 days, at least as regards points 1 to 8 (especially point 8.6), subject to the trial consequences indicated in art. 233 § 2 of the Civil Procedure Code. ENEA’s attorney filed a reservation to the protocol pursuant to art. 162 of the Civil Procedure Code. On 24 April 2019, the Company provided the Investment Agreement. The Court decided to postpone the hearing to 17 July 2019. On 31 July 2019, the District Court in Poznań allowed the main claim and declared the Resolution invalid. On 17 September 2018, an attorney for ENEA S.A. submitted an appeal against the ruling of 31 July 2019. The complainant submitted a response to the appeal, to which ENEA S.A.’s attorney replied. On 8 July 2020 the Appeals Court dismissed the Company’s appeal against the District Court’s ruling. As indicated in verbal major reasons for the ruling, the Appeals Court decided that the District Court’s ruling complies with the law because the Resolution is invalid due to the fact that adopting the Resolution breached the division of competences between the organs of a commercial-law company. In consequence, the ruling by the District Court in Poznań invalidating the Resolution became final. The Group has assessed the impact of this event as neutral for the reported data.
The Management Board of ENEA S.A. filed in December 2018 a response to a lawsuit brought by Międzyzakładowy Związek Zawodowy Synergia Pracowników Grupy Kapitałowej ENEA, based in Poznań, to cancel, determine the non-existence or repeal resolution no. 3 of the Extraordinary General Meeting of ENEA S.A. of 24 September 2018 regarding directional approval to join the Construction Stage of the Ostrołęka C project, and demanded that the lawsuit be rejected in its entirety as unjustified, along with reimbursement of court representation costs. The hearing was scheduled for 8 May 2019. That hearing, and others scheduled for 30 July 2019 and 1 October 2019, did not take place. A new hearing date has not yet been set. The hearing has been suspended until a final ruling is issued in a case instigated by a shareholder of the Company – Fundacja „CLIENTEARTH Prawnicy dla ziemi.” The proceeding was still suspended at the date on which these consolidated financial statements were prepared.
On 20 August 2018, the Energy Regulatory Office („URE”) sent a notice to ENEA Wytwarzanie Sp. z o.o. regarding the instigation of an administrative proceeding to impose a monetary penalty due to the possibility that applications for issue of origin certificates for years 2010-2018 submitted to the URE President could have contained inaccurate data, information or declarations.
In accordance with the notice, ENEA Wytwarzanie Sp. z o.o. provided detailed explanations and the required documentation.
In September 2020, the Energy Regulatory Office (URE) examined some of the applications for February and March 2018 and issued property rights for these months. The remaining applications are currently being verified.
The case is in progress as of 31 December 2020.