DIRECT APPLICATION OF PRIMARY EU LAW RULES AND PRINCIPLES TO AWARDS OF PUBLIC CONTRACTS

Abstract

The legal horizon of the public procurement area is not limited to the national legislation and the relevant EU directives relating to the public procurement, utilities procurement and concessions. It also comprises certain rules and principles of the EU primary law that apply to all awards of public contracts, as confirmed by the CJEU’s case-law. In this article, the author analyses the evolution of the CJEU’s case-law with respect to the application of TFEU rules, as well as the principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination, transparency and mutual recognition to awards of public contracts. The violations of those rules and principles can be subject of individual review procedures according to the national law, but also of infringement procedures instituted by the European Commission before the CJEU against Member States.