In this ruling the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia has ruled that the appeal of Telekom Slovenije is partially upheld, and the disputed ruling of the Administrative Court is dismissed in the part in which Telekom Slovenije’s lawsuit was dismissed.

Telekom Slovenije announced that they have received a ruling of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia, issued on 24 March 2021, in the administrative dispute between the plaintiff Telekom Slovenije and the Slovenian Competition Protection Agency (AVK) in relation to alleged abuse of dominant position on the carrier market.

In this ruling the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia has ruled that the appeal of Telekom Slovenije is partially upheld, and the disputed ruling of the Administrative Court is dismissed in the part in which Telekom Slovenije’s lawsuit was dismissed. In this part the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia returned the matter to the court of first appeal to rule on it again.

This case is related to overturning AVK’s decision no. 306-23/2013-151 of 2 February 2015. As a reminder, the Administrative Court of the Republic of Slovenia issued on 9 January 2018 in the judicial review of administrative acts that Telekom Slovenije filed as the plaintiff against the Slovenian Competition Protection Agency (CPA) seeking to revoke CPA’s decision no. 306-23/2013-151 of 2 February 2015.

The Administrative Court of the Republic of Slovenia partly ruled in favour of the plaintiff, i.e. in the part where Telekom Slovenije is accused of abusing its dominant position in the carrier market of broadband bitstream access in the Republic of Slovenia between 1 July 2005 and 22 September 2008, allegedly imposing additional obligation on alternative operators using its wholesale service of broadband bitstream access, i.e. the end user or operator’s obligation to lease the phone connection, which was unnecessary considering the business practice and the operator’s usual practice. CPA’s decision no. 06-23/2013-151 of 2 February 2015 is therefore revoked in this part, and the matter returned to CPA. The Administrative Court of the Republic of Slovenia rejected the plaintiff in other parts.