Luxemburg, 07/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - In his conclusions delivered on Thursday 6 September, Advocate General Dámaso Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer counselled the Court to rule that German public radio effectively falls under the terms of directive 2004/18/EC on the award of public contracts (case C-337/06). In April 2005, the Gebühreneinzugszentrale der öffentlich-rechtlichten Rundfunkanstalten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (GEZ), a central organisation responsible for the collection of German public broadcasting bodies' licence fees, employed a cleaning company without following the procedure of the award of contracts under the terms of national regulations and the appropriate directive. GEZ claims it is not required to abide by these procedures since it is managed independently of all state influence. The Advocate General does not share this opinion, and considers that GEZ is a public body, since its funding is provided principally through licence fees from the public. This being the case, and given that cleaning services come within the scope of directive 2004/18/EC, the selection of the service provider ought to follow the procedure laid down in the directive. The Court, which does not automatically follow the Advocate General' conclusions, will deliver its final decision in the next few weeks. (cd)