Brussels, 28/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 21 November, the Advocate General of the Court of Justice, Ms E. Sharpston, presented her conclusions in case C-6/05 Medipac versus Kazantzidis. Further to a call for tenders for medical devices launched by the public hospital Venizeleio-Pananeio in Heraklion, Greece, in 2003, the hospital decided that the sutures offered by one of the tenderers were unsuitable for the planned use, despite the fact that they carried the EC marking (the problems listed were that the knots slipped easily and that the needles frequently twisted or broke). The supplier was therefore excluded from the tender procedure, but the Advocate General's interpretation of directives 93/36/EEC (concerning the proceedings for public procurement) and 93/42/EEC (on medical devices) bans any such summary exclusion, as long as the EC marking is present. If the contracting authority (in this case, the hospital) discovers technical faults pertinent to public health, then it must "take measures either in accordance with the procedure in article 8 of the directive or under article 18 of the directive" on medical devices. If these authorities find that their concerns are, at first sight, justified, the hospital must then suspend the public procurement procedure pending the final result of the investigation thus launched. (cd)