Brussels, 01/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has opened a public consultation round, to run until Friday 9 July, on concessions. The responses from stakeholders (public authorities, economic operators and citizens) will feed into the reflection process launched by the Commission more than three years ago on the appropriateness of legislating at European level on service concessions. In its questionnaire, the Commission asks interested parties about the level of information required by the legislation of their member state with regard to the award of service concessions. It also wants to assess the impact that stakeholders feel the increased competition in the area of service concessions would have on the quality and price of the service and on employment in the sectors concerned.
A concession differs from a normal public contract in that the economic operator designated as concessionaire bears part of the operational and financial risk inherent in the concession and is remunerated fully or partially through operation of the concession. Work concessions are governed by the public contracts directive, but not service concessions. Among the activity sectors affected are water treatment and waste, energy, transport, social services, justice and research. At the end of May, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which it is not deemed necessary, at this point, to launch a legislative initiative on concessions (see EUROPE 10143). To respond to the Commission questionnaire, in English, go to: http: //ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=Concessionsquest#_en.htm (M.B./transl.rt)