There is no agreement on whether or not Community law on public contracts and concessions is actually complied with when undertakings are set up jointly by public and private companies to carry out infrastructure projects or to perform public services (institutionalised PPPs - IPPPs). A substantial number of contributions deplore the lack of legal certainty at EC level regarding relations between contracting authorities and other parties which are so close that they are treated as relations between entities not legally distinct from each other ("in-house relations").
A clear majority of contributions argue in favour of taking the initiative at Community level to clarify or define the obligations of contracting bodies regarding the conditions for a call for competition between operators potentially interested in an institutionalised project. A majority of those contributions that favour a Community initiative would prefer the Commission - at least as a first step - to provide guidelines or some other form of clarification on the application of existing public procurement rules to the establishment of IPPPs. Other contributors who favour a Community initiative argue that legislative measures at EC level would be the appropriate response to perceived difficulties in this area.