Questions 4 and 5 of the PPP Green Paper
Question Have you already organised, participated in, or wished to organise or participate in, a procedure for the award of a concession within the Union? What was your experience of this? Do you consider that the current Community legal framework is sufficiently detailed to allow the concrete and effective participation of non-national companies or groups in the procedures for the award of concessions? In your opinion is genuine competition normally guaranteed in this framework? |
Main views of stakeholders • Many stakeholders contend that the Community legal framework is sufficiently detailed in the sense of question 5. • Problems encountered in the course of award procedures for concessions include a lack of legal certainty, in particular as regards deciding whether a given contract qualifies as a public contract or a concession, discrimination against concession models by Community regional policy and the competitive advantages of national companies. |
While many stakeholders consider the Community legal framework sufficiently detailed to allow non-national companies to participate effectively in procedures for awarding concessions, and a substantial number of contributions describe their practical experience in this field as positive, various other contributors point to problems encountered. These problems include a lack of legal certainty due to non-standardised public procurement procedures, confusion about which EU rules apply, in particular whether a given contract qualifies as a public contract or a concession, discrimination against concession models by Community regional policy and the competitive advantages of national companies.
In the view of many contributors, the perceived competitive advantages of national companies are not necessarily due to discriminatory national rules, but rather result from the facts on the ground, such as national companies' better knowledge of specific local conditions, including the national legal provisions, and language problems. Many contributors explain that large international companies make up for such disadvantages by establishing national subsidiaries.