On 21 October 2026, representatives of the company AVE CZ rejected in court the charge of evading fees for depositing waste at four landfills.
On 21 October 2026, representatives of the company AVE CZ odpadové hospodářství rejected, before the regional court in the Central Bohemian Region, the charge of evading statutory fees for depositing waste. According to the indictment, this took place between 2016 and 2020 at four landfills operated by the company, in Čáslav, Benátky nad Jizerou, Mšeno and Hořovice. The state prosecutor put the damage at 940 million korunas and is proposing a financial penalty for the company of more than one billion korunas.
The prosecution's position
According to the state prosecutor, the company did not report waste in its statements as deposited but falsely as material used in building the landfill, which is exempt from fees. It thus did not collect the statutory fee from waste producers and was cheaper than its competitors. Police surveillance, he said, drew attention to specific cases of concealing the nature of the waste. In Čáslav, the company is said to have dumped barrels from which liquids leaked into pits without treatment, and in one case an explosion and fire occurred. In Benátky nad Jizerou, according to him, hazardous waste that did not match its labelling reached the landfill and was reported as material for the landfill's technical safeguards.
The state prosecutor justified a penalty of 1.2 to 1.3 billion korunas by the seriousness of the conduct and the company's income. He is not proposing a ban on activity because, in his view, it would also affect the landfills and the municipalities that depend on them.
The defence's position
The company's defence lawyer said the accused acted in the belief that it was proceeding correctly and in accordance with the law. The way of handling waste that the prosecution regards as a criminal offence was, in his words, permitted by the integrated permits of all four landfills, and the regional office found no conflict with their conditions during inspections. He stressed that the legal interpretation was not unambiguous in the period concerned and that a binding interpretation was provided by the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic only later. According to the lawyer, the company did not enrich itself, because it did not collect fees from customers. He also questioned that only the company, as a legal entity, faces the charge, and said that no specific person who acted intentionally had been identified.
In the case the company argues that the interpretation of waste legislation is disputed.
Related articles: Central Bohemian Region
Chronology
- — Representatives of the company AVE CZ odpadové hospodářství rejected the indictment before the regional court in the Central Bohemian Region, under which the firm underpaid landfill fees at four landfills between 2016 and 2020; the prosecutor puts the damage at 940 million crowns and proposes a fine exceeding one billion crowns. iDNES.cz, Praha iROZHLAS
Sources
- iDNES.cz, Praha — 21 October 2026
- Ekolist.cz — 22 October 2026