Brussels, 31/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 28 January, the European Commission published a guide to EU rules and the Lisbon Treaty on competition, the internal market and public procurement for services of general interest (SGI), with the aim of putting an end to the mistaken view by some politicians and local authorities that the Commission is planning to force all services of general interest out to tender. A European official explained that this is not the case, as the guide aims to demonstrate. The EU rules and the Lisbon Treaty do indeed apply to SGI, particularly social services, but do not apply in the same way as other services, explained the official.
The Commission points out that competition law does not force contracts to be put out for tender because it is possible, under certain conditions, to decide on special exceptions. The freedom to supply services and the freedom of establishment are key aspects of EU law, but the European Court of Justice allows restrictions in order to pursue social policy objectives. Likewise, the Services Directive (Directive 123/2006/EC) does not apply to all social services, and the public procurement directives (2004/18/EC and 2004/17/EC) do not make it compulsory to select the lowest bid. An update on an early 2007 guide, the new document is based on FAQs on state aid and public procurement from the Interactive Information System (IIS) set up in 2008 to clarify application of SGI rules. For further information, see: ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=6458&langId=en (M.B./transl.fl)