The EU Concessions Directive: Building (Toll) Bridges between Competition Law and Public Procurement?

摘要

The introduction of the Concessions Directive and the increased legal certainty that it brings to areas such as the definition of a 'concession' is a welcome development. Similarly, obliging contracting authorities to run tenders for concession contracts in accordance with what were previously mere 'best practices'-such as maximising transparency through appropriate advertising; setting the qualifying restrictions in such a way that balances a need to focus on eligible bidders, while at the same time not being so narrow as to exclude or discourage potential bidders; and fixing the duration of the concession to the minimum length necessary to enable the concessionaire to recoup its investment-is likely to help improve the quality of competition for concession contracts.