Lawyers of the State Environmental Service (SES) have started to assess whether the “Zero Deposit” application for the introduction of a waste deposit system in Latvia should be rejected, as false information has been revealed in the tender submitted by the company, SES Director General Elita Baklāne-Ansberga announced today.
The official stated that lawyers would have to give an opinion on whether the information provided by the “Zero Deposit” false content would be grounds for rejecting the company’s application. Baklāne-Ansberga emphasized that in assessing the facts, the SES and the evaluation commission must act in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law. The “zero deposit” application is evaluated by lawyers from the SES Legal Department, but private sector lawyers could also be involved if necessary.
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The Director General of the SES indicated that the companies SIA “Elvi Latvija” and SIA “Coca-Cola HBC Latvia” have informed the SES that they do not intend to become members of SIA “Zero Depozīts”, as well as are not members of any of the associations that are members of “Zero Deposit”. . The SES evaluation commission has examined these facts and made sure that Elvi Latvija is not a member of the Latvian Traders’ Association.
Baklāne-Ansberga explained that “Coca-Cola HBC Latvia” is a member of the Latvian Alcohol Industry Association (LANA), but it was unreasonably included in the list of deposit deposit packers among the packers who have confirmed that they will become a member of the deposit system operator SIA “Nulles depozīts”. , if it is granted the rights of a deposit system operator. In fact, the company has not provided any confirmation to LANA of its readiness to become a member of the deposit system operator SIA “Nulles depozīts”, if it will be granted the rights of a deposit system operator.
Baklāne-Ansberga informed that the application of the other participant of the deposit system operator tender – SIA “Depozīta Package Operator” – in the first round has been evaluated and recognized as meeting the minimum requirements.
The Director-General of the Service expressed his determination that the panel would evaluate the applicants within three months, as originally planned. She noted that the public’s interest in this competition has increased and it has become politicized, therefore the composition of the commission is not publicly disclosed so that it cannot be influenced. “The commission consists of five experienced and professional employees from various departments with voting rights, as well as a non-voting representative delegated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development,” said Baklāne-Ansberga.
The Director General of the SES pointed out that several non-governmental organizations were also interested in the competition – the Society for Transparency – Delna, the Advisory Council of the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund and the Council of Foreign Investors in Latvia. In case the second round of the competition takes place, the representatives of these organizations will also be given the opportunity to interview the tender applicants, but the decision on the result will be made by the evaluation commission, Baklāne said.
If one tenderer is recognized as the winner, then the information and action plan submitted in his application will be evaluated, while if it is recognized that the other tenderer can also participate in the second round of the competition, both the action plan and the list of deposit packers will be evaluated. for the participants of the relevant merchant, if it will be granted the rights of a deposit system operator.
It has already been reported that the deposit system is planned to be introduced in Latvia on February 1, 2022. The SES has received two applications from the deposit system operator within the specified term – from SIA “Depozītapakojuma operators” and SIA “Nulles depozīts”. The evaluation of the received applications will take place in two rounds. In the first round of evaluation, the Commission will evaluate the applicants’ compliance with regulatory enactments and minimum requirements.
If both applicants meet the minimum requirements and are nominated for the second round of evaluation, the received applications will be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria set by the Cabinet of Ministers and in accordance with the procedure for evaluation of documents submitted by Deposit System Operator candidates.
The SES will enter into an agreement with the tenderer who has obtained the highest number of points in the evaluation of the commission. The agreement is planned to be concluded by the end of this year. The agreement with the operator on the operation of the deposit system will be concluded for seven years, ie until 31 January 2029.
On October 29, the “Deposit Packaging Operator” issued a statement accusing the SES of alleged illegal activity in favor of the applicant “Zero Deposit” during the tender for the deposit system.
Miks Stūrītis, Chairman of the Board of the “Deposit Packaging Operator”, claimed to LETA that the SES tender commission had illegally tried to adjust one of the offers 21 days after the deadline for submission of tenders by deposit system operators, 30 September. Stūrītis explained that the SES had sent a letter to the members of the Latvian Alcohol Industry Association and the Latvian Traders’ Association inviting them to provide confirmation that if the second bidder “Zero Deposit” wins the deposit tender, the members of the association will become members of this merchant.
In Stūrītis’ opinion, the action of the SES by requesting to submit the amount of deposit packaging placed on the market by the members of both associations during the tender is also considered illegal. At the same time, the Chairman of the Board of the “Deposit Packaging Operator” pointed out that the SES requested to think about supplementing the “Zero Deposit” offer during the tender.
A letter from the SES at the disposal of the agency LETA, sent on October 21, states that after evaluating the September 30 application of the deposit system operator candidate “Zero deposit”, the commission found that the application of the Latvian Traders Association and the list of its members were attached to the “Zero deposit” application. to September 23. The confirmation of the association states that its members will become members of the respective merchant if it is granted the rights of a deposit system operator.
As indicated in the letter, given that the commission does not have the confirmations of the members of the Traders’ Association and the commission has information that not all the indicated members were as of September 23, and not all members have expressed readiness to participate in the “Zero Deposit” deposit system, The SES asked each member of the Traders’ Association and the Latvian Alcohol Industry Association to submit to the commission a confirmation of readiness to become a member of the deposit system operator “Zero Deposit”, if it is granted the rights of a deposit system operator.
The confirmation has also been requested to include information on the amount of deposit packaging placed on the market (in pieces and kilograms), in accordance with the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers “Regulations on the Operation of the Deposit System”. The certificates had to be submitted by 28 October.
The response to the SES letter regarding participation in the “Zero Deposit” in case of winning the tender was provided by the soft drink producer “Coca-Cola HBC Latvia”. A letter from Coca-Cola HBC Latvia held by LETA states that the manufacturer is not a member of the Traders ‘Association and has not provided any assurances to either the Traders’ Association or the Alcohol Industry Association of their readiness to become a “Zero Deposit” member if they are granted a deposit system operator. rights.
As stated in the letter, if any of these associations has provided the SES with any data on the volumes of packaging placed on the market by Coca-Cola HBC Latvia, such data are considered misleading and in no case taken into account in calculating the zero deposit depositor marketed by Zero Deposit. the amount of packaging.
The manufacturer indicates in the letter that Coca-Cola HBC Latvia is a participant in the “Deposit Packaging Operator” and has provided confirmation of the amount of packaging placed on the market only to the “Deposit Packaging Operator”. The manufacturer’s declaration has been submitted to the SES as part of the “Deposit Packaging Operator” application and the volumes of packaging placed on the market of “Coca-Cola HBC Latvia” are taken into account when evaluating the “Deposit Packaging Operator” application.
The company “Deposit Packaging Operator”, whose share capital is 90,000 euros, was established in June this year by the “Beer and Beverage Packaging Union”. The owners of the Beer and Beverage Packaging Union are “Beer and Beverage Packaging Union” (25%), “Coca-Cola HBC Latvia” (25%), “Cēsu alus” (16.7%), “Cido grupa” (16.7 %) and “PET Baltija” (16.7%), according to the information “Firmas.lv”.
In its turn, “Zero deposit” was registered in the commercial register on September 17, 2020, according to “Firmas.lv” information. The share capital of the company is 9600 euros, but its owners are “Green Belt” (36.46%), LTA (36.46%), JSC “BAO” (20.83%), SIA “Zlaukts” (1.04%) , SIA “Markol” (1.04%), SIA “Wingo Deposit” (1.04%), SIA “MobillyTX” (1.04%), AS “Latvijas balzams” (1.04%) and SIA “Amrita Water Europe ”(1.04%).
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