In a unanimous yearbook decision the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court ruled that guarantee insurance is an adequate environmental permit security. Further, the Court, by referring to the free movement of financial services within the EU, stated that a party in an arrangement for security regarding adequate and proper security may be a financial institution based in another EU-country.
The case concerned the largest environmental permit guarantee in Finland, an approx. 50 Meur security for the permit obligations relating to the waste areas of the Talvivaara nickel mine. Due to the ruling, the company is entitled to use guarantee insurance as security instead of a bank guarantee which has required countersecurity and consequently has led to higher guarantee costs.
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