Judge Jaroslav Tesák said the Oct. 9 injunction would last until Oct. 17, but he expected it to be extended several months.

If that happens, the government will not be able to collect tolls on roads by January, as planned, deputy Transportation Minister Jiří Kubínek said.

The government expected to collect tolls on nearly 950 kilometers (590 miles) of road at the beginning of the year and add another 2,100 kilometers to the system July 1.

The injunction came after a complaint by Italian company Autostrade, which is challenging the outcome of a tender won by the Austrian firm Kapsch in November 2005. Autostrade insists that Kapsch received preferential treatment from the Transportation Ministry.

Kapsch has already raised nearly 60 of the planned 171 e-toll gates throughout the country. The company had been rushing construction in order to meet the government deadline.

But further development of the e-toll gate network would make it impossible to enforce any revision to the tender process, Autostrade spokesman Roman Pospíšil said.

Tesák said he issued the injunction because he shared Autostrade's opinion.

Kapsch won its first legal battle against the failed bidders after the Anti-Monopoly Office (ÚOHS) rejected complaints by Mytia and Autostrade in January.

Autostrade subsequently filed legal complaints with the Regional Court in Brno and the European Commission (EC).

The EC announced Oct. 12 that the e-toll tender did not break EC regulations, but added that it would keep an eye on court proceedings to determine if all bidders were treated fairly.

The Regional Court in Brno is now examining the ÚOHS ruling in order to find out whether it was correct. The ÚOHS has already approved the tender results on two separate occasions.

If the court orders the ÚOHS to reexamine the tender, the ÚOHS could impose a fine on the Transportation Ministry but could not cancel the actual tender, said ÚOHS Chairman Martin Pecina.