lithuania developing nuclear plant partnership

6
THE BALTICTIMES
BUSINESS·
ULY10- 16,2008
TAKING COUNSEl
Booze It and lose it
~ Simo Soolo
In
2007,
drunk
driving
killed 79 people
in 518 car aeci·
dents in Estonia.
That's more than
one·fIfth of all
traffic accidents
and one-third of fataI accidents. This
is an outrageous figure in today's
society.
Inereased drunk-drivingenforcement under the Estonian National
Traffic Safety Program has resulted
in questions on punishment for driving under the iniJuence (DU!). The
flrst DUI is a misdemeanor which,
according to Estonian Traffic Law
section 74.19,is punishable by a fine
of up to 300 fine-units (one f:me.unit
being 60 kroons Dr 4 euro) OI'. detention, with supplementary punish·
ment by suspension of driving privileges from three to nine months. A
second offense. is considered a crime
(penal Code section 424),which calls
for pecuniary punishment of up to 3
years in prison. Despite the harsh·
ness, DU! remams a popular olIense'
among Estonians, and mare effective
methods have bccn almost impossi·
ble to fmd, until a recent ruling by
the Supreme Court.
The throo essentia! ingredients
of a DU! oocktail are a!cohol, a driv·
el' and a vehicle. Tallinn removed
a!cohol from the mix, prohibiting its
sale OOtwoon8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.
This restraint sortens, to sales from
10:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. Though the'
tactic has sinee been adopted by the
entire state, it's shown few results.
To deal with the second ingredient,
the driver, we already suspend driving privileges. So that leayes the
third ingredient, and here we find a
prospeetive solution: restrict the
right of ownership of the vehicle.
The precedent was set in
February 2007, when the court of
first instance suspended the defendant's driving privileges for one year,
ordered 540 hours of community
. service and seized the otIender's car
under Pena! Code 83 section!.
Judicia! proceedings reached all
the way to the Supreme Comt en
banc, which set a precedent on June
12, 2008, by upholding the original
ruling. The court doolared that for·
feiture of the vehicle in same DU!
cases is a constitutional measure
that may be taken in order to diminish the number of alcohol-related
fatalities. Although the ruling came
with three dissenting opinions, the
precedent was set. The dissenting
opinions relied on several judicial
weaknesses in regulatian, or in legal
reasoning in general.
The nrst obstacle arose from the
question of whether the vehicle in a
DU! should oo treated as an "objoot"
or an "instrument" of the offense.
The Supreme Court concluded that
the ditTerenee OOtwoonan object and
an instrument of the ofIense can bc
shown by the following test: Is the
olIense remitted as the "objoot" (Le.
the vehicle) or is the offense only
comrnittable because of the partiei·
patian of the vehicle? The driver uses
the vehicle in traffic for multiple pmposes, but at the same time, the driver (regardless of intent) commits an
offense: the Dill. Henee, in judicial
proceedings, the vehicle should oo
con'sidered the _"instrument of the
offense," which allows the implentation of Penal Code section 83 paragraph 1 (forfeiture of the instrument
of olIense) in a criminal matter.
The second obstacle was verifying whether Pena! Code 83 section 1
is constitutional in this case under
part 32 section 2 of the Constitution
of Estonia, corresponding with the
conclusion reached above: that the
vehicle is the instrument of the
_ offense. According to part 32 section
2, the property shall not oo used con·
trary
to the public interest.
Drunkenness significantly impairs
control over the vehicle, mereasing
the probability of a fataI accident.
Therefare, the driver threatens other
drivers' fundamentaI rights: life and
property. Beyond any doubt the state
is ob1iged to take action and ensure
that eertain measures are in plaee to
protoot the above-mentioned
tutiona! rights,
No 'doubt these' statistics had
..been !aken into account by the court.
The lega! system should be able to
protoot us from the reckless.
Legislators waited for the
severallaws have since been
allowing the forfeiture of the vehicle
even if leased or in common ownership.
lf a vehicle can oo driven by
those in disregard of his or her past
ofTenses, willfully ignorant of the
potentially fatal consequences of
actions, then ownership of the vehi·
cle should oo forfeited.
Coneerning the conflict of iura
novit curia ("the comt knows the
laws") and iura novat cmia ("the
court renews the laws"), this driver
in question, had beeri driving the
same vehicle for the fourth time in
two years - drunk again.
Simo 500/0 is 0 lawyer ot Glikman &.
Partnerid, 0 member prm of the Baltic
Legol Solutions, a pan-Baltic ;ntegrated
network of law firms ;nduding Kronbergs
&. Cukste in Latvia and Jureviejus.
Saleiunas &. 8artkus in üthuania, dedicated to providing 0 quality 'one-srop shop'
opproach to c/ients' needs in the Balties.
GUKMAN
& PARTNLRIO
lithuania developing
nuclear plant partnership
GOT THE POWER: The saga over power supplies rumbles on.
~ Staff and wire rep'orts,VILNIUS
worked out," said Juozaitis on
Lithuanian
television's
"Panorama" news program.
The
next
mooting
betwoon
the
,
holding company Leo LT,
Lithuanian
electricity
executives of Leo LT, Polska Grupa
'. along
with energy-compaEnergetyczna,
Latvenergo
and
nY-· executives
from Estonia,
Latvia and Poland, agreed July 3 Eesti Energija is scheduled for
Stockholm on July 25.
to continue talks on a joint project
to build a new nuclear facility to
'Leo LT has proposed that it
hold a 51·percent stake in the proj·
replace the Ignalina plant, which
ect, with the remaining shares to
is slated to shut down in 2009.
"We continue intensive and
be divided equally among its partners.
constructive work with partners.
This remains to be decided, as
Today we have discussed the cur·
Juozaitis
says that Leo LT's part·
rent situation, All parties have put
ners are worried that the same
forward their proposals, which the
model would oo applied in distrib·
task group will enter in a future
uting ownership stakes in the comagreement between the partners,"
pany that will ultimately buUd and
said Leo LT chairman Rymantas
Juozaitis.
operate the new facUity. But with·
Leo LT, the management vehi·
out knowing the plan!'s total capac·
cle, which
is 61.7 percent
ity and the terms of the projec!'s
financing, it is too soon to decide
Lithuanian
government-owned,
on final ownership distribution.
with 38.3 percent held by private
The Polish,
Latvian
and
investor NDX Energija, suggested
Estonian energy companies are
earlier this year that a joint ven·
ture be set up by the end of this
awaiting the results of an ongoing
summer between the energy com- environmental
impact stud}~ the
panies of the four countries, say- first results of which are due in
ing that such a plan would help
late August, which will determine
the operating capacity. The power
save time until a political agree·
needs of all four countries will be
ment on the planned new nuc1ear
met only if the new plant can gen·
power plant was reached. The partners back the idea but have doubts
erate over 3,000 megawatts.
The design and preparation of
on the" proposed distribution
of
shares.
the project under discussion would
"This company will be estab·
take a couple of years, arter which
the proposed jOint venture would
lished by Sept. I, but the key provi·
sions which have to be included
then be liquidated or converted
into the agrooment are stiU OOing into a company that would build
.The
and operate the new power-generating facUity.
Leo LT suggests that it control
34 percent of shares in the new
plant's operating companyand
that the other partners hold 22 per·
cent each.
Backed by"its partners, completion of the new nuclear power
plant is projected for 2015 to 2018.
Additional projects for Leo LT, if
approved, involve construction of
power bridges to Poland and
Sweden. to bc comp1eted by 2013 to
2016.
Lithuania currently relies on
Ignalina
Nudear
Power PIant
(INPP) for 70 percent of its electric·
ity needs and, canSidering the cansequences of shutting off the
power next year, hopes to continue
operations at Ignalina until the
new facility is read}~
Lithuania's
Minister
of
Economy Vytas Navickas told the
participants at an informal meet·
ing of the European Union councH
of energy ministers in Paris that
the optimal solution would be to
continue INPP's operations unti!
the campletion of a ncw nuc1ear
power plant 01' power links with
PoJand and Sweden.
The minister alsa urged them
to consider Lithuania's exception·
al e<;onomic and energy circum·
stances when discussing early elo·
sure of Ignalina and the relevant
energy measures and compensa·
tory schemes. 0
Company briefs
Starti ng this month, Estonia's ERGO Insurance will use statistics on
a vehide's make and model to caleulate the price of insuring it. "The
new pricing principles are fairer for the policyholders, because they
take more precisely into consideration the risk from the use of the vehide and the risk profile of the poUcyholder," said board memOOr Sergei
Vahnitski. Due to inflation, average prices will rise 5.8 percent f0t; third·
party liabiJity insurance and 3.5 percent for passenger cars, the compa·
ny says. For the first quarter of 2008, the average indemnity east in:
Estonia was about 26.000 kroons 0,660 euros), up from 23,400 kroons in
2006.
•••
Syntagon Baltic, a sUbsidiary of the Swedish research company
Syntagon. has put a hold on plans to invest 2.3 million euros into its
expansion in Latvia. Company chief Andis Slaitas blamed slower spending in the pharmaceutical industry but aIso cited Syntagon's inability to
find "high-quality employees fast enough." Slaitas said Syntagon has
a1so been searChing for chemists in Lithuania and Estonia without
much success and now has extended the search to Russia, Belarus and
Ukraine. Syntagon Baltic makes intermediary products for the pharmaceutical industry. In fiscal year 2007-2008the company increased
turnover 13 percent to 475,700 lats (679,500euros). Most of its customers
are biotech firms. but Syntagon's dients also indude AstraZeneca and
four other leading pharmaceutical companies.
Foul play on the Swedish seas
~ From wire rep'orts,TALLlNN
The evaluation committee from
the inter"national shipping-control
organization Paris MOU will ask
the
Swedish
Maritime
Administration
to reeonsider its
decision to detain the cruise ferry
MS Fantaasia.
Swedish
inspectors
had
detained the Estonian·f1agged sh ip
in the port of Gothenburg on Nov.
21, 2007, because of numerous
shortcomings
detected
in the
course of an inspection. Estonian
inspectors, however, contested the
inspection results, saying the ship
was undergoing
repairs at the
time.
The
Estonian
Maritime
Administration now says that the
detention of the ship caused a row been under
charter
by the
between the two eountries' inspec·
Norwegian
company
Kystlink
Estonia. Tallink Line Ltd., asub·
tion agencies that neither corre·
spondence nor negotiations has
sidiary of the Estonian shipping
been able to settle. The maritime
line AS-i Tallink, concluded its sale
authority then referred the case to of the ship to the Norwegian company Roa RoRo just last week. for
the Paris MOU body, which
informed the Estonian Maritime
17.2million euros .
Paris MOU consists of 27 parAdministration
on July 4 of its
ticipating
maritime nations and
decision to ask the Swedish body to
administers
the waters of the
reconsider
its detention of the
Fantaasia.
European coastal states and the
The Paris MOU evaluation
North AtIantic region between
committee confirmed the Estonian
North America and Europe. It
works to maintain and imprave the
authority's opinion that the inspec·
tion was performed on the sh ip safety and operation of internawhile it was under repair and that
t iona] shipping through the insp(>cthe detention was therefore inap- tions of ships while in member
states' ports. Estonia became a rllli
propriate.
The ship accommodates 1,500 member of the organization in
2005. 0
passengers and 300 cars and had