Operator of the Vilnius Mixed Municipal Waste Sorting Facility, UAB Energesman, will comply with the ruling of the Vilnius District Court. The company will allow VAATC to exercise its right to dispose of the MBA facility buildings and equipment and will continue to grant VAATC representatives access to the site, as it has always done. At the same time, Energesman will continue to fulfil its obligations under the facility operating agreement and carry on processing waste.
In its application to the court, VAATC requested an order prohibiting Energesman from “obstructing” VAATC representatives from entering the waste sorting facility and from “disposing of” the buildings and equipment owned by VAATC.
Under Lithuanian property law, the right of disposal is one of the three core ownership rights and allows an owner to sell, donate, pledge or otherwise dispose of property. The other two rights are the right to possess (manage) and the right to use the property.
“We have never prevented, are not preventing, and will never prevent VAATC representatives from entering the site or exercising their right to dispose of their property. However, VAATC did not ask the court to grant it the right to possess, manage or use the buildings and equipment, and the court did not grant such rights. Therefore, we remain obliged to fulfil our obligations under the operating agreement and continue processing waste – and that is exactly what we will do,” said Algirdas Blazgys, CEO of Energesman.
In the reasoning of its ruling, the court itself acknowledged that VAATC’s chosen wording – requesting an order prohibiting the disposal of the buildings and mobile equipment – “is not entirely accurate from the perspective of property law.”
“The court’s ruling has only added further confusion to an already complicated situation. As before, VAATC remains entitled to dispose of the buildings and equipment it owns and to access the site, while Energesman continues to have the right to possess and use those assets. Under this ruling, VAATC has not been granted the right to take over the operation of the facility,” said Dr Paulius Miliauskas, Partner at the law firm Miliauskas ir Lauraitytė.
Energesman continues to have both the right and the obligation to receive and process waste at the Vilnius Mixed Municipal Waste Sorting Facility, as the facility operating agreement remains in force.