Lydian successfully defends the interests of a utility operator: Council of State annuls municipal levy on utility works.

A victory for utility operators: the Council of State has annulled the municipal levy imposed for the installation and maintenance of utility infrastructure on public land.

The Council ruled that the levy, which required telecom operators to pay a fee for the installation and maintenance of their networks on the public domain, was unlawful. There was no concrete service provided by the municipality in return, and the fees were not proportionate to the municipality’s actual costs.

This decision is significant for the further rollout of fibre‑optic infrastructure in Belgium. Municipal levies create additional obstacles and delays in digital development.

The Council of State’s ruling now brings greater clarity to both utility operators and local authorities, and creates room for a constructive dialogue on how they can jointly build a future‑proof digital infrastructure.

Our lawyers Lore Derdeyn and Grigori Badalyan represented one of the operators involved and successfully defended its position.

Read more in the press:
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