Openbare aanbesteding: Commissie waarschuwt Frankrijk (en)
The European Commission has decided to send a reasoned opinion under Article 226 of the EC Treaty as part of infringement proceedings against France concerning a French Rural Code provision, adopted in 2005, which grants the Centre national pour l'aménagement des structures des exploitations agricoles (CNASEA) an exclusive right to provide regional and local authorities with services relating to the management of public aid. The Rural Code provision in question requires regional and local authorities to entrust the CNASEA with the management of their financial aid and accompanying measures (including the management of financial aid to trainees undergoing vocational training) if those authorities do not wish to manage the aid themselves.
Since the management of financial aid is an economic activity which falls under the public procurement Directive (2004/18/EC), the Commission considers that this delegation of aid management – the procedures and particularly the remuneration for which are laid down by an agreement between the regional or local authority and the CNASEA – amounts to awarding the CNASEA a public services contract by mutual agreement without complying with the award procedures laid down by Community public procurement legislation and in particular by Directive 2004/18/EC.
The latest information on infringement proceedings initiated against Member States is available at: