Brussels, 08/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling delivered on 8 April 2008, the European Court of Justice ruled that Italy has infringed EU law by directly ordering helicopters from the company Agusta SpA to equip several Italian civilian and military state bodies without using any bidding procedures. This constant, long-standing practice is said to infringe Council Directive 93/36/EEC on public procurement. The Court rejected all of Italy's arguments, based on the various derogations authorised by Article 296 of the EC Treaty (Case C-337/05).
For several years, Italy has been ordering all the helicopters used by various government departments, including the military arm of the fire brigade, police, national forestry commission officers, coastguards, financial police, national police and the civil protection service, from Agusta. After sending Italy a warning letter and reasoned opinion to which it did not receive any satisfactory reply, in September 2005 the Commission sent the case to the Court of Justice. Italy argued that the work of the various cited bodies was connected with national security either through their quasi-military nature or through the need for equipment to be compatible with the equipment used in military operations in the event of certain emergencies. It is true that national security is one of the reasons for which a member state can derogate from the usual obligations under Council Directive 93/36/EEC on public procurement, but the Court did not accept this interpretation. It argues that the Italian state failed to make a convincing case that the purchase of the helicopters was connected with national security. In fact, the helicopters in question are mainly for civilian usage - their military use is merely a possibility. In addition, Italy failed to demonstrate how compatibility problems might arise if helicopters supplied by a different company were deployed. Under EU law, the supply of these helicopters must therefore be the subject of an open, public and transparent call for tender. (cd)