42. Welcomes as a general principle, in the interests of local self-government and efficient administration, some form of cooperation at local authority level, not least to bring about synergies, as long as this does not enable abuse leading to market closure;
43. Considers it necessary that the Commission clarify the legal uncertainty regarding cooperation between public authorities which has arisen as a result of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice;
44. Shares the view of the Court of Justice expressed in its judgment in Case C-84/03 Commission v Spain that cooperation agreements between public authorities cannot be exempted from procurement law across the board by means of the use of a legal form under national law; takes the view that there is a need for demarcation between measures which are purely administrative and/or organisational in nature and procurement contracts between administrative authorities;
45. Considers that cases of cooperation between public authorities are not relevant with regard to procurement law if:
- the cooperation is between local authorities,
- the tasks, the performance of which was assigned to these local authorities, are to be considered a matter of administrative reorganisation or if the supervisory powers of the local authorities concerned are similar to those which they exercise with regard to their own departments, and
- the activities are essentially performed for the local authorities concerned;
46. Rejects the application of procurement law in cases where public authorities plan to carry out tasks within their territory in conjunction with other public authorities as a measure of administrative reorganisation, without offering the provision of the services concerned to third parties on the open market;
47. Considers that the transfer of responsibilities for public sector tasks from one public authority to another does not come within the scope of Community procurement law;
48. Considers, however, that procurement law always needs to be applied when public authorities offer services on the market as private undertakings in the context of cooperation between such public authorities or arrange for public tasks to be carried out by private undertakings or other public authorities outside the scope of this cooperation;
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49. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.