2. PURELY CONTRACTUAL PPPS AND COMMUNITY LAW ON PUBLIC CONTRACTS AND CONCESSIONS
21. The term "purely contractual PPP" refers to a partnership based solely on contractual links between the different players. It covers a variety of set-ups where one or more tasks of a greater or lesser magnitude are assigned to the private partner, and which can include the design, funding, execution, renovation or exploitation of a work or service.
22. In this context, one of the best-known models, often referred to as the "concessive model",24 is characterised by the direct link that exists between the private partner and the final user: the private partner provides a service to the public, "in place of", though under the control of, the public partner. Another feature is the method of remuneration for the joint contractor, which consists of charges levied on the users of the service, if necessary supplemented by subsidies from the public authorities.
23. In other types of set-up, the private partner is called on to carry out and administer an infrastructure for the public authority (for example, a school, a hospital, a penitential centre, a transport infrastructure). The most typical example of this model is the PFI set-up.25 In this model, the remuneration for the private partner does not take the form of charges paid by the users of the works or of the service, but of regular payments by the public partner. These payments may be fixed, but may also be calculated in a variable manner, on the basis, for example, of the availability of the works or the related services, or even the level of use of the works.26
| 1. What types of purely contractual PPP set-ups do you know of? Are these set-ups subject to specific supervision (legislative or other) in your country? |
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24. It should be noted that the interpretation given by national law or by the parties has no impact on the legal interpretation of these contracts for the purposes of the application of a Community law on public contracts and concessions.
25. The term PFI refers to "Private Finance Initiative", a programme of the British Government permitting the modernisation of the public infrastructure through recourse to private funding. The same model is used in other Member States, sometimes with major variants. For example, the PFI model inspired the development of the "Betreibermodell" in Germany.
26. See the case of "virtual tolls", used in the context of motorway projects, particularly in the United Kingdom, Spain and Finland.