Brussels, 26/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has begun proceedings against Member States that have failed to respect European directives on public procurement advertising.
France has been referred to the Court of Justice concerning its town planning code. The Commission judges that Article L.300-4 in the code allows contracts to be allocated without being advertised and without competition. These agreements are made with the awarding authorities which then recruit builders to carry out the urban planning projects. According to the Commission, "the main purpose of these agreements concern works, which are then usually performed by a builder selected by the town planner on behalf of the competent authorities". It considers that Community rules should apply when builders are public or semi-public bodies having rights in this area. The Commission considers that this right should also be awarded to individuals and not just the pubic authorities as laid down in Article 45 of the Treaty. The Commission also draws on the Telaustria ruling made by the Court of Justice in 1998 on the allocation of management, leisure or tourism activities and services being subject to European transparency rules.
Denmark has two months to reply to the reasoned opinion sent to the country over its implementation of public procurement. The Commission considers that Denmark has not guaranteed competitors sufficient time for appealing about the award of a contract. According to Community legislation, this deadline should be sufficient to allow competitors the time to get a contract suspended before it comes into force. Similar reasoned opinions were sent to Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, United Kingdom, Spain and Finland.
Italy has to reply to a reasoned opinion in connection with the awarding of a contract for a series of hydraulic projects in the borough of Stintino (Sassari) in Sardinia. The project involved eleven successive contracts made since 1991, without offers to tender. According to the Commission this is in breach of the 1971 directive on public procurement contracts. The Commission, however, concluded proceedings, after agreeing that the Italian law of December 2003 on local public services respect the public procurement directive.
Netherlands received a reasoned opinion over the extension without competition by the Rijkswaterstaat (the body administering public works) of a contract for the supply of road safety barriers. The Commission pointed out that the Netherlands had not respected its commitment to rectify the situation.