(1) The absence of clear rules at Union level governing the award of concession contracts gives rise to legal uncertainty and to obstacles to the free provision of services and causes distortions in the functioning of the Internal Market. As a result, economic operators, in particular Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), are being deprived of their rights within the Internal Market and miss out on important business opportunities, while public authorities may not find the best use of public money so that EU citizens benefit from quality services at best prices. An adequate legal framework for the award of concessions would ensure effective and non-discriminatory access to the market to all Union economic operators and legal certainty, favouring public investments in infrastructures and strategic services to the citizen.
(2) Public procurement plays a key role in the Europe 2020 strategy4 as one of the market-based instruments to be used to achieve a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth while ensuring the most efficient use of public funds. The award of works concessions is presently subject to basic rules of Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts while the award of services concessions with a cross-border interest is subject to the principles of the Treaty, and in particular the principle of free movement of goods, freedom of establishement and freedom to provide services as well as to the principles deriving therefrom such as equal treatment, non-discrimination, mutual recognition, proportionality and transparency. There is a risk of legal uncertainty related to different interpretations of the principles of the Treaty by national legislators and of wide disparities among the legislations of different Member States. Such risk has been confirmed by the extensive case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union but which has only partially addressed certain aspects of the award of concession contracts. Hence, a uniform concretisation of the Treaty principles across all Member States and the elimination of discrepancies in their understanding following therefrom is necessary at the Union level in order to eliminate persisting distortions of the Internal Market.
(3) This Directive should not in any way affect the freedom of Member States or public authorities to decide on the direct provision of works or services to the public or on the outsourcing of such provision to third parties. Member States or public authorities should remain free to define the characteristics of the service to be provided, including any conditions regarding the quality or price of the services, in order to pursue their public policy objectives
(4) For concessions above a certain value, it is appropriate to provide for a minimum coordination of national procedures for the award of such contracts based on principles of the Treaty so as to guarantee the opening-up of concessions to competition and adequate legal certainty. Those coordinating provisions should not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve the aforementioned objectives. However, Member States should be allowed to complete and develop further those provisions if they find it appropriate notably to better ensure compliance with the principles above.
(5) Certain coordination provisions should also be introduced for the award of works and services concessions awarded in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors given that national authorities may influence the behaviour of entities operating in those sectors and taking into account the closed nature of the markets in which they operate, due to the existence of special or exclusive rights granted by the Member States concerning the supply to, provision or operation of networks for providing the services concerned.
(6) Concessions are contracts for pecuniary interest concluded between one or more economic operators and one or more contracting authorities or entities and having as their object the acquisition of works or services where the consideration consists, normally, in the right to exploit the works or services that are the subject of the contract. The execution of these works or services are subject to specific binding obligations defined by the contracting authority or entity which are legally enforceable. By contrast, certain State acts such as authorisations or licences whereby the State or a public authority establishes the conditions for the exercise of an economic activity, should not qualify as concessions. The same applies to certain agreements having as their object the right of an economic operator to exploit certain public domains or resources, such as land lease contracts whereby the State or contracting authority or entity establishes only general conditions for their use without acquiring specific works or services.
(7) Difficulties related to the interpretation of the concepts of concession and public contract have been source of continued legal uncertainty among stakeholders and have given rise to numerous judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union on this subject. Therefore, the definition of concession should be clarified, in particular by referring to the concept of substantial operating risk. The main feature of a concession, the right to exploit the works or services, always implies the transfer to the concessionaire of an economic risk involving the possibility that it will not recoup the investments made and the costs incurred in operating the works or services awarded. The application of specific rules governing the award of concessions would not be justified if the contracting authority or entity relieved the contractor of any potential loss, by guaranteeing a minimal revenue, equal or higher to the costs that the contractor has to incur in relation with the performance of the contract. At the same time it should be made clear that certain arrangements which are fully paid by a contracting authority or a contracting entity should qualify as concessions where the recoupement of the investements and costs incurred by the operator for execution the work or provididng the service depends on the actual demand for or the availability of the service or asset.
(8) Where sector specific regulation provides for a guarantee to the concessionaire on breaking even on investments and costs incurred for operating the contract, such contract should not qualify as a concession within the meaning of this Directive.
(9) The notion of special or exclusive rights is central to the definition of the scope of this Directive, since entities which are neither contracting entities pursuant to Article 4 (1) (1) nor public undertakings are subject to its provisions only to the extent that they exercise one of the activities covered on the basis of such rights. It is therefore appropriate to clarify that rights which have been granted by means of a procedure based on objective criteria, notably pursuant to Union legislation, and for which adequate publicity has been ensured do not constitute special or exclusive rights for the purposes of this Directive. This legislation should include Directive 98/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas5, Directive 96/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity6, Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service7, Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1994 on the conditions for granting and using authorisations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons8 and Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on public passenger transport services by rail and by road and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) Nos 1191/69 and 1107/709. The increasingly diverse forms of public action made it necessary to define more clearly the notion of procurement itself. The Union rules on concessions refer to the acquisition of works or services for a consideration consisting in exploitation of those works or services. The notion of acquisition should be understood broadly in the sense of obtaining the benefits of the works or services in question not requiring in all cases a transfer of ownership to contracting authorities or contracting entities. Furthermore, the mere financing of an activity, which is frequently linked to the obligation to reimburse the amounts received where they are not used for the purposes intended, does not usually fall under this Directive.
(10) It has also proven necessary to clarify what should be understood as a single procurement, with the effect that the aggregate value of all concessions concluded for the purpose of this procurement has to be taken into account with regard to the thresholds of this Directive, and that the procurement should be advertised as a whole, possibly split into lots. The concept of single procurement encompasses all supplies, works and services needed to carry out a particular project. Indications for the existence of one single project can for instance consist in overall prior planning and conception by the contracting authority, the fact that the different elements purchased fulfil a single economic and technical function or that they are otherwise logically interlinked.
(11) To ensure a real opening up of the market and a fair balance in the application of concession award rules in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors it is necessary for the entities covered to be identified on a basis other than their legal status. It should be ensured, therefore, that the equal treatment of contracting entities operating in the public sector and those operating in the private sector is not prejudiced. It is also necessary to ensure, in keeping with Article 345 of the Treaty, that the rules governing the system of property ownership in Member States are not prejudiced.
(12) Concessions may be awarded by contracting entities for the purpose of meeting the requirements of several activities, possibly subject to different legal regimes. It should be clarified that the legal regime applicable to a single concession intended to cover several activities should be subject to the rules applicable to the activity for which it is principally intended. Determination of the activity for which the concession is principally intended may be based on an analysis of the requirements which the specific concession must meet, carried out by the contracting entity for the purposes of estimating the concession value and drawing up the concession award documents. In certain cases, it might be objectively impossible to determine for which activity the concession is principally intended. The rules applicable to such cases should be indicated.
(13) It is appropriate to exclude from the scope of this Directive certain services concessions awarded to an economic operator which is itself a contracting authority or a contracting entity on the basis of an exclusive right which that operator enjoys under published national law or administrative act and which has been granted in accordance with the Treaty and Union sectoral legislation concerning the management of networks infrastructure related to the activities set out in annex III, since such exclusive right makes it impossible to follow a competitive procedure for the award. By way of derogation and without prejudice to the legal consequences of the general exclusion from the scope of this Directive, concessions as defined in article 8 (1) should be subject to the obligation to publish a concession award notice in view of ensuring basic transparency unless the conditions of such transparency are provided for in sectoral legislation.
(14) It is appropriate to exclude certain service and works concessions awarded to an undertakings affiliated to contracting entities, having as its principal activity the provision of such services or works to the group of which it is part, rather than offering them on the market. It is also appropriate to exclude certain service and works concessions awarded by a contracting entity to a joint venture which is formed by a number of contracting entities for the purpose of carrying out activities covered by this Directive and of which that entity is part. However, it is appropriate to ensure that this exclusion does not give rise to distortions of competition to the benefit of the undertakings or joint ventures that are affiliated with the contracting entities; it is appropriate to provide a suitable set of rules, in particular as regards the maximum limits within which the undertakings may obtain a part of their turnover from the market and above which they would lose the possibility of being awarded concessions without calls for competition, the composition of joint ventures and the stability of links between those joint ventures and the contracting entities of which they are composed.
(15) This Directive should not apply to concessions awarded by contracting entities and intended to permit the performance of an activity referred to in Annex III if, in the Member State in which this activity is carried out, it is directly exposed to competition on markets to which access is not limited, as established following a procedure provided for to this purpose in accordance with Art. 27 and 28 of Directive [current 2004/17/EC]. This procedure should provide legal certainty for the entities concerned, as well as an appropriate decision-making process, ensuring, within short time limits, uniform application of Union law in this area.
(16) This Directive does not apply to the concession award carried out by international organisations on their own behalf and for their own account. There is, however, a need to clarify to which extent it is appropriate to apply this Directive to concession award governed by specific international rules.
(17) There is considerable legal uncertainty as to how far cooperation between public authorities should be covered by concession award rules. The relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union is interpreted differently between Member States and even between contracting authorities or certain contracting entities. It is therefore necessary to clarify in what cases concessions concluded between such authorities are not subject to the application of public concession award rules. Such clarification should be guided by the principles set out in the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice. The sole fact that both parties to an agreement are themselves contracting authorities or contracting entities under Art. 4 (1) (1) does not as such rule out the application of concession award rules. However, the application of concession award rules should not interfere with the freedom of public authorities to decide how to organise the way they carry out their public service tasks. Concessions awarded to controlled entities or cooperation for the joint execution of the public service tasks of the participating contracting authorities or entities should therefore be exempted from the application of the rules if the conditions set out in this Directive are fulfilled. This Directive should aim to ensure that any exempted public-public cooperation does not cause a distortion of competition in relation to private economic operators. Neither should the participation of a contracting authority as a tenderer in a procedure for the award of a public contract cause any distortion of competition.
(18) In order to ensure adequate advertisement of works and services concessions above a certain value awarded by contracting entities and by the contracting authorities, the award of such contracts should be preceded by the compulsory publication of a concession notice in the Official Journal of the European Union. The thresholds should reflect the clear cross-border interest of concessions to economic operators located in other Member States. To calculate the value of a services concession, account must be taken of the estimated value of all services to be provided by the concessionaire from the point of view of a potential tenderer.
(19) In view of the detrimental effects on competition, awarding concessions without prior publication should only be permitted in very exceptional circumstances. This exception should be limited to cases where it is clear from the outset that a publication would not trigger more competition, notably because there is objectively only one economic operator who can perform the concession. Only situations of objective exclusivity can justify the award of a concession without publication to an economic operator, where the situation of exclusivity has not been created by the contracting authority or contracting entity itself in view of the future award procedure, and where there are no adequate substitutes, the availability of which should be assessed thoroughly.
(20) A review of so-called prioritary and non-prioritary services ('A' and 'B' services) by the Commission has shown that it is not justified to restrict the full application of procurement law to a limited group of services. As a result, this Directive should apply to a number of services (such as catering and water distribution services), which both showed a potential for cross-border trade.
(21) In the light of the results of the evaluation conducted by the Commission on the reform of public procurement rules it is appropriate to exclude from the full application of this Directive only those services which have a limited cross-border dimension, namely the so-called services to the person such as certain social, health and educational services. These services are provided within a particular context that varies widely amongst Member States, due to different cultural traditions. A specific regime should therefore be established for concession for these services which takes into account the fact that they are newly regulated. An obligation to publish a prior information notice and a concession award notice of any concession with a value equal to or greater than thresholds established in this Directive is an adequate way to provide information on business opportunities to potential tenderers as well as on the number and type of contracts awarded to all interested parties. Furthermore, Member States should put in place appropriate measures with reference to the award of concession contracts for these services aimed at ensuring compliance with the principles of transparency and equal treatment of economic operators while allowing contracting authorities and contracting entities to take into account the specificities of the services in question. Member States should ensure that contracting authorities and contracting entities may take into account the need to ensure quality, continuity, accessibility, availability and comprehensiveness of the services, the specific needs of different categories of users, the involvement and empowerment of users and innovation.
(22) Given the importance of the cultural context and the sensitivity of these services, Member States should be given wide discretion to organise the choice of the service providers in the way they consider most appropriate. The rules of this Directive do not prevent Member States to apply specific quality criteria for the choice of service providers, such as the criteria set out in the voluntary European Quality Framework for Social Services of the European Union's Social Protection Committee . Member States and/or public authorities remain free to provide these services themselves or to organise social services in a way that does not entail the conclusion of concessions, for example through the mere financing of such services or by granting licences or authorisations to all economic operators meeting the conditions established beforehand by the contracting authority or contracting entity, without any limits or quotas, provided such system ensures sufficient advertising and complies with the principles of transparency and non-discrimination.
(23) In order to make it possible for all interested operators to submit applications and tenders, contracting authorities and contracting entities should be obliged to respect a minimum time limit for the receipt of such applications.
(24) The choice and application of proportional, non-discriminatory and fair selection criteria to economic operators is crucial for their effective access to the economic opportunities related to concessions. In particular, the possibility for a candidate to rely on the capacities of other entities can be decisive to enable the participation of small and medium sized enterprises. Therefore, it is appropriate to provide that the selection criteria should relate exclusively to the technical, financial and economic capacity of operators, should be announced in the concession notice and cannot preclude an economic operator from relying on the capacities of other entities, regardless of the legal nature of its links with those entities, if the latter proves to the contracting authority or entity that it will have at its disposal the necessary resources.
(25) In order to ensure transparency and equal treatment, criteria for the award of concessions should always comply with some general standards. These should be disclosed in advance to all potential tenderers, be related to the subject matter of the contract and should not offer to the contracting authority or contracting entity an unrestricted freedom of choice. They should ensure the possibility of effective competition and be accompanied by requirements that allow the information provided by the tenderers to be effectively verified. In order to comply with these standards while improving legal certainty, Member States may provide for the use of the criterion of the most economically advantageous tender.
(26) Where contracting authorities and contracting entities choose to award a concession to the most economically advantageous tender, they should determine the economic and quality criteria on the basis of which they assess the tenders in order to identify which one offers the best value for money. The determination of thosese criteria depends on the object of the concession since they should allow the level of performance offered by each tender to be assessed in the light of the subject-matter of the concession, as defined in the technical specifications and the value for money of each tender to be measured.
(27) Concessions are usually long term, complex arrangements where the contractor assumes responsibilities and risks traditionally born by the contracting authorities and normally falling within their remit and contracting entities. For this reason, contracting authorities or entities should maintain a margin of flexibility in organising the awarding process, involving also a possibility to negotiate the content of the contract with the candidates. However, in order to ensure equal treatment and transparency throughout the awarding procedure, it is appropriate to provide for certain requirements as to the structure of the awarding process, including negotiations, the dissemination of information and the availability of written records. It is also necessary to provide that the initial terms of the concession notice should not be deviated from, in order to prevent unfair treatment of any potential candidates.
(28) The technical specifications drawn up by contracting authorities and contracting entities need to allow concession award to be opened up to competition. To that end, it must be possible to submit tenders that reflect the diversity of technical solutions so as to obtain a sufficient level of competition. Consequently, technical specifications should be drafted in such a way to avoid artificially narrowing down competition through requirements that favour a specific economic operator by mirroring key characteristics of the supplies, services or works habitually offered by that economic operator. Drawing up the technical specifications in terms of functional and performance requirements generally allows this objective to be achieved in the best way possible and favours innovation. Where reference is made to a European standard or, in the absence thereof, to a national standard, tenders based on equivalent arrangements should be considered by contracting authorities or contracting entities. To demonstrate equivalence, tenderers can be required to provide third-party verified evidence; however, other appropriate means of proof such as a technical dossier of the manufacturer should also be allowed where the economic operator concerned has no access to such certificates or test reports, or no possibility of obtaining them within the relevant time limits.
(29) In technical specifications and in award criteria, contracting authorities and contracting entities should be allowed to refer to a specific production process, a specific mode of provision of services, or a specific process for any other stage of the life cycle of a product or service, provided that they are linked to the subject-matter of the concession. In order to better integrate social considerations inthe award of concessions, procurers may also be allowed to include, in the award criteria, characteristics related to the working conditions. However, where the contracting authorities or contracting entities use the most economically advantageous tender, such criteria may only relate to the working conditions of the persons directly participating in the process of production or provision in question. Those characteristics may only concern the protection of health of the staff involved in the production process or the favouring of social integration of disadvantaged persons or members of vulnerable groups amongst the persons assigned to performing the contract, including accessibility for persons with disabilities. In this case, any award criteria which include those characteristics should in any event remain limited to characteristics that have immediate consequences on staff members in their working environment. They should be applied in accordance with Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services10 and in a way that does not discriminate directly or indirectly against economic operators from other Member States or from third countries parties to the Agreement or to Free Trade Agreements to which the Union is party. Contracting authorities and contracting entities should, also where they use the criterion of the most economically advantageous tender, be allowed to use as an award criterion the organisation, qualification and experience of the staff assigned to performing the concession in question, as this may affect the quality of concession performance and, as a result, the economic value of the tender.
(30) Electronic means of information and communication can greatly simplify the publication of contracts and increase the efficiency and transparency of concession award processes. They should become the standard means of communication and information exchange in concession award procedures. The use of electronic means also leads to time savings. As a result, provision should be made for reducing the minimum periods where electronic means are used, subject, however, to the condition that they are compatible with the specific mode of transmission envisaged at Union level. Moreover, electronic means of information and communication including adequate functionalities can enable contracting authorities and contracting entities to prevent, detect and correct errors that occur during procurement procedures.
(31) Contracting authorities and contracting entities from different Member States may be interested in cooperating and in awarding jointly public concessions in order to take the best benefit of internal market potential in terms of economies of scale and risk-benefit sharing, notably for innovative projects involving a greater amount of risk than reasonably supportable by a single contracting authority or contracting entity. Therefore new rules on cross-border joint concession award designating the applicable law should be established in order to facilitate setting up cross-border joint public concession award. In addition, contracting authorities and contracting entities from different Member States may set up joint legal bodies established under national or Union law. Specific rules should be established for such form of joint concession award.
(32) The laws, regulations and collective agreements, at both national and European Union level, which are in force in the areas of employment conditions and safety at work should apply during performance of a concession, providing that such rules, and their application, comply with Union law. In cross-border situations, where workers from one Member State provide services in another Member State for the purpose of performing a concession, Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services11 lays down the minimum conditions which must be observed by the host country in respect of such posted workers.
(33) Concessions should not be awarded to economic operators that have participated in a criminal organisation or have been found guilty of corruption, fraud to the detriment of the Union's financial interests or money laundering. Non-payment of taxes or social security contributions should also be sanctioned by mandatory exclusion at the level of the Union. Furthermore, contracting authorities and contracting entities should be given the possibility to exclude candidates or tenderers for serious violations of Union or national law aimed at the protection of public interests compatible with the Treaty or where the economic operator has shown significant or persistent deficiencies in the performance of a prior concession or concessions of a similar nature with the same contracting authority or contracting entity.
(34) It is necessary to clarify the conditions under which modifications of a concession during its execution require a new award procedure, taking into account the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. A new award procedure is required in case of material changes to the initial concession, demonstrating the intention of the parties to renegotiate essential terms or conditions of that concession. This is notably the case if the amended conditions would have had an influence on the outcome of the procedure, had they been part of the initial procedure. An exceptional and temporary extension of the term of the concession strictly aimed at ensuring the continuity of the provision of the service pending the award of a new concession should not normally qualify as a material change to the initial concession.
(35) Contracting authorities and contracting entities can be faced with external circumstances that they could not foresee when they awarded the concession. In this case, a certain degree of flexibility is needed to adapt the concession to these circumstances without a new award procedure. The notion of circumstances that a diligent contracting authority or contracting entity could not foresee refers to those circumstances which could not be predicted despite reasonably diligent preparation of the initial award by the contracting authority or contracting entity, taking into account its available means, the nature and characteristics of the specific project, good practice in the field in question and the need to ensure an appropriate relationship between the resources spent in preparing the award and its foreseeable value. However, this cannot apply in cases where a modification results in an alteration of the nature of the overall procurement, for instance by replacing the works, supplies or services to be procured by something different or by fundamentally changing the type of procurement since, in such a situation, a hypothetical influence on the outcome may be assumed.
(36) In line with the principles of equal treatment and transparency, the successful tenderer should not be replaced by another economic operator without reopening the concession to competition. However, the successful tenderer performing the concession may undergo certain structural changes during the performance of the concession, such as purely internal reorganisations, mergers and acquisitions or insolvency or be substituted on the basis of a contractual clause known to all tenderers and in line with the principles of equal treatment and transparency. Such structural changes should not automatically require new award procedures for all concessions performed by that undertaking.
(37) Contracting authorities or contracting entities should have the possibility to provide for modifications to a concession in the concession contract itself, by way of review clauses which should not give them unlimited discretion. This Directive should therefore set out to what extent modifications may be provided for in the initial concession.
(38) In order to adapt to rapid technical and economic developments, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty should be delegated to the Commission in respect of a number of non-essential elements of this Directive. In fact, the technical details and characteristics of the devices for electronic receipt should be kept up to date with technological developments and administrative needs; it is also necessary to empower the Commission to make mandatory technical standards for electronic communication to ensure the interoperability of technical formats, processes and messaging in concession award procedures conducted using electronic means of communication taking into account technological developments and administrative needs. Furthermore, the list of legislative acts of the Union establishing common methodologies for the calculation of life-cycle costs should be quickly adapted to incorporate the measures adopted on a sectoral basis. In order to satisfy these needs, the Commission should be empowered to keep the list of legislative acts including LCC methodologies up-to date.
(39) In order to ensure adequate judicial protection of candidates and tenderers in the concession award procedures, as well as to make effective the enforcement of the rules of this Directive and of the Treaty principles, Council Directive 89/665/EEC on the coordination of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the application of review procedures to the award of public supply and public works contracts12 and Council Directive 92/13/EEC coordinating the laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the application of Community rules on the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors13 should also apply to services concessions and to works concessions awarded by both contracting authorities and contracting entities. Directives 89/665/EEC and 92/13/EEC should, therefore, be amended accordingly.
(40) The processing of personal data pursuant to this Directive should be governed by Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data14.
(41) The law of the Union on public procurment requires Member States to consistently and systematically monitor the implementation and functioning of those rules in order to ensure the efficient and uniform application of Union law. Hence, where Member States designate a single national authority in charge of monitoring, implementation and control of public procurement, that authority may have the same responsibilities regarding concessions. A single body with overarching tasks should ensure an overview of main difficulties in implementation and suggest appropriate remedies to more structural problems. That body may also provide immediate feedback on the functioning of policy and potential weaknesses in national legislation and practice, thus contributing to the quick identification of solutions and the improvement of concession award procedures.
(42) It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level. The Commission, when preparing and drawing-up delegated acts, should ensure a simultaneous, timely and appropriate transmission of relevant documents to the European Parliament and Council.
(43) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Directive; the procedure for drawing up and transmission of notices and for sending and publishing data referred to in Annexes IV to VI, the amendment of the thresholds implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by the Member States of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers15. The advisory procedure should be used for the adoption of implementing acts, which do not have any impact either from the financial point of views or on the nature and scope of obligations stemming from this Directive. On the contrary, these acts characterised by a mere administrative purpose and serve to facilitate the application of the rules set by this Directive.
(44) In accordance with the Joint Political Declaration of Member States and the Commission on explanatory documents of [date], Member States have undertaken to accompany, in justified cases, the notification of their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the components of a Directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition instruments. With regard to this Directive, the legislator considers the transmission of such documents to be justified,
HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
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4 COM(2010) 2020 final, 3.3-2010.
5 OJ L 204, 21.7.1998, p. 1
6 OJ L 27, 30.1.1997, p. 20.
7 OJ L 15, 21.1.1998, p. 14.
8 OJ L 164, 30.6.1994, p. 3.
9 OJ L 315, 3.12.2007, p. 1.
10 OJ L 18, 21.1.1997, p.1.
11 OJ L 18, 21.1.1997, p. 1.
12 OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 33.
13 OJ L 76, 23.3.1992, p. 14.
14 OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31.
15 OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13.