The High Administrative Court has rejected the lawsuit of Hrvatski Telekom against HAKOM's decision on the right of way

The High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia has rejected the lawsuit of Hrvatski Telekom d.d. against the decision of the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM), which determined that the telecommunications company failed to act upon the order to deliver a complete calculation of the right-of-way fee. By the judgment of case number Us II-51/2026-10 dated October 7, 2026, published in Official Gazette (Narodne novine) No. 124/2026 dated October 30, 2026 (item 1486), the claim was rejected, and Hrvatski Telekom must reimburse Hrvatske ceste d.o.o. 1,250.00 euros in litigation costs within 15 days of the delivery of the judgment.

The HAKOM decision, class UP/I-344-03/25-11/01, ref. no. 376-08-26-35 dated February 11, 2026, relies on a partial decision of the same case, ref. no. 376-08-25-25 dated December 4, 2025, which became enforceable on December 29, 2025. The legality of that partial decision had already been confirmed by the High Administrative Court in judgment Us II-287/2025-13 dated September 3, 2026; therefore, in this dispute, only the question of whether the enforcement was lawful remained.

The matter concerns the right-of-way fee, specifically for the use of real estate owned by the Republic of Croatia on which the electronic communications infrastructure (ECI) of Hrvatski Telekom is located beneath state roads. The calculation is based on the Decision on the amount of compensation for the establishment of easements and construction rights on public roads (Official Gazette No. 87/14) and the Ordinance on the confirmation and compensation for the right-of-way (Official Gazette Nos. 152/11, 151/14, and 95/17), along with the mandatory Table 1 – Annex 2.

What Telekom was ordered to do and what was omitted

By the partial decision, Hrvatski Telekom was ordered to prepare a calculation of the annual right-of-way fee within 15 days according to the parameters in that decision and to deliver Table 1 to HAKOM and Hrvatske ceste. All ECI data from the easement establishment agreements concluded between 2014 and 2024 were to be separated from the calculation and stated in a separate sheet of Table 1, as an annual easement fee is already paid on those agreements.

The court found that the submitted separate sheet did not contain the prescribed columns: in addition to the serial number, type and name of the agreement, fee in euros, date of signature, and internal agreement class, data on the cadastral parcels where the ECI is located, the length of the route, the area of the route, and the price were missing. HAKOM determined through random checks that the calculation Table 1 lacked ECI data specified in the agreements, which resulted in an incorrect fee calculation.

Amounts in dispute

• 402,367.56 euros – the main financial obligation for the right of way that Hrvatski Telekom paid to Hrvatske ceste
• 42,170.54 euros – total compensation under all easement agreements covered by the calculation
• 16,051.24 euros – the portion of the compensation that the telecom identified and reported within the given eight-day deadline
• 26,119.30 euros – additional amount subsequently paid to Hrvatske ceste
• 13,000.00 euros – monetary fine provided for by the enforcement order in case of non-compliance, with an announcement of double the amount for further non-execution
• 1,250.00 euros – cost of drafting the response to the lawsuit (1,000.00 euros plus VAT) which the telecom pays to Hrvatske ceste
• 316 easement agreements concluded from 2014 to 2024

Arguments that the court did not accept

Hrvatski Telekom defended itself by claiming that it acted in good faith, that it paid the main obligation under threat of enforcement, and that the disputed issues are of a technical nature, so that the payment does not call into question the legality of the decision. The court ruled that the payment of compensation, especially that carried out solely to remove the threat of a fine, does not prove that the obligation was fulfilled in the manner ordered by the decision.

The objection that the additional eight-day deadline was too short was also rejected. The court pointed out that the partial decision was received as early as December 2025, and the contested decision was made on February 11, 2026, so the telecom had sufficient time to act. Furthermore, it was concluded that the plaintiff itself managed to identify part of the EKI within the given deadline, which confirms that the deadline was not unfeasible.

Who decided and what the judgment is based on

The Council of the High Administrative Court consisted of judges Marina Kosović Marković as the council president, and Jelena Rajić and mr. sc. Inge Vezmar Barlek as members, with senior judicial advisor Ivana Jasprica Konjuh as the recorder. Hrvatski Telekom (OIB 81793146560, Zagreb, Radnička cesta 21) was represented by lawyer Tin Lovrić from the law firm Bogdanović, Dolički & partneri, and Hrvatske ceste d.o.o. (OIB 55545787885, Zagreb, Vončinina 3) by lawyer Marko Vukelić from the law firm Jajaš & Vukelić. The defendant HAKOM has OIB 87950783661 and is headquartered in Zagreb, Roberta Frangeša Mihanovića 9.

The decision to reject the lawsuit is based on Article 116, paragraph 1 of the Administrative Disputes Act (Official Gazette No. 36/24 and 39/26), while the obligation to publish the judgment in the Official Gazette relies on Article 21, paragraph 8 of the Electronic Communications Act (Official Gazette No. 76/22 and 14/24).

The judgment reinforces the interpretation that HAKOM may forcibly execute an order for the delivery of EKI data even before the telecom company fully identifies all infrastructure. For Hrvatski Telekom, this means that the calculation of the right-of-way fee remains incomplete until all prescribed columns of Table 1 are filled, and for Hrvatske ceste, it is a confirmation that they are entitled to the fee calculated according to the actual length and area of the route, rather than according to the agreed easement amounts.

Source: Narodne novine No. 124/2026 of October 30, 2026, item 1486, Judgment of the High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia, case number Us II-51/2026-10 of October 7, 2026.