Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen (NNDKP) successfully represented Societatea Națională a Apelor Minerale SA in a complex dispute, generated by illegal findings of the Romanian Court of Accounts, which raised complicated issues of European and national law concerning the method of calculating the mining royalty related to the production of mineral water.

Societatea Națională a Apelor Minerale S.A. („SNAM”) is the most important company in the field of research, exploration and exploitation of natural mineral water resources in Romania, holding 45% of the licenses in the market, currently supplying, through authorized partners, approximately 75% of the volumes of natural mineral water bottled by companies active in this field.

SNAM’s arguments, as developed and presented to the court by NNDKP, were validated by the High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania in a solution that we welcome, which confirmed, once again, the importance and priority of the principles of legality, economic freedom, legitimate expectations and of legal certainty, specific to a democratic European state, which do not allow abuses based on mere suspicion and presumption.

The NNDKP team that assisted Societatea Națională a Apelor Minerale SA during the course of the dispute included Daniela Gramaticescu, Partner, Alexandru Lăcureanu, Senior Associate, and Călin Bîrsan, Associate, members of the firm’s Dispute Resolution practice, team that has successfully managed a wide range of fiscal and other administrative disputes.

“We are pleased with the successful resolution of this dispute and the confirmation by the courts of the fairness and correctness of our defenses related to such complex technical legal matters. The solution reflects our team’s efforts, but, first of all, is the result of an impartial, objective, and very well prepared justice, which only makes us happy”, said Daniela Gramaticescu.