EU and International Organisations Rules on Public-Private Partnerships

Abstract

Through the public procurement rules, protection of competition, equality of choice and transparency of the procedure in relationships between the public and private sectors are provided, to the greatest extent possible, in the EU rules. All the contractual relationships between the public and private sectors cannot be subject to strict and formal rules on public procurement primarily due to the special nature of business operations, complexity and duration of the relationships. Concessions or public-private partnerships of a concessionary nature are excluded from the legal regime that applies to public procurement. This paper analyses the contractual relationships of the concessionary nature and the EU efforts for ensuring a certain degree of equal treatment of private partners entering into public-private partnerships. KEYWORDS: • protection of competition • public-private partnership • concession • European Union