B Directive 2004/17/Ec of the European
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2004L0017 — EN — 01.01.2016 — 014.001 — 1 This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents ►B DIRECTIVE 2004/17/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors (OJ L 134, 30.4.2004, p. 1) Amended by: Official Journal No page date ►M1 Commission Regulation (EC) No 1874/2004 of 28 October 2004 L 326 17 29.10.2004 ►M2 Commission Directive 2005/51/EC of 7 September 2005 L 257 127 1.10.2005 ►M3 Commission Regulation (EC) No 2083/2005 of 19 December 2005 L 333 28 20.12.2005 ►M4 Council Directive 2006/97/EC of 20 November 2006 L 363 107 20.12.2006 ►M5 Commission Regulation (EC) No 1422/2007 of 4 December 2007 L 317 34 5.12.2007 ►M6 Commission Regulation (EC) No 213/2008 of 28 November 2007 L 74 1 15.3.2008 ►M7 Commission Decision 2008/963/EC of 9 December 2008 L 349 1 24.12.2008 ►M8 Regulation (EC) No 596/2009 of the European Parliament and of the L 188 14 18.7.2009 Council of 18 June 2009 ►M9 Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of L 216 76 20.8.2009 13 July 2009 ►M10 Commission Regulation (EC) No 1177/2009 of 30 November 2009 L 314 64 1.12.2009 ►M11 Commission Regulation (EU) No 1251/2011 of 30 November 2011 L 319 43 2.12.2011 ►M12 Council Directive 2013/16/EU of 13 May 2013 L 158 184 10.6.2013 ►M13 Commission Regulation (EU) No 1336/2013 of 13 December 2013 L 335 17 14.12.2013 ►M14 Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/2341 of 15 December 2015 L 330 16 16.12.2015 Corrected by: ►C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 358, 3.12.2004, p. 35 (2004/17/EC) 2004L0017 — EN — 01.01.2016 — 014.001 — 2 ▼B DIRECTIVE 2004/17/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 47(2) and Article 55 and Article 95 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1 ), Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Commit tee (2 ), Having regard to the Opinion of the Committee of the Regions (3 ), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (4 ), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 9 December 2003, Whereas: (1) On the occasion of new amendments being made to Council Directive 93/38/EEC of 14 June 1993 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors (5 ), which are necessary to meet requests for simplification and modernisation made by contracting entities and economic operators alike in their responses to the Green Paper adopted by the Commission on 27 November 1996, the Directive should, in the interests of clarity, be recast. This Directive is based on Court of Justice case-law, in particular case-law on award criteria, which clarifies the possibilities for the contracting entities to meet the needs of the public concerned, including in the environmental and/or social area, provided that such criteria are linked to the subject-matter of the contract, do not confer an unrestricted freedom of choice on the contracting entity, are expressly mentioned and comply with the fundamental principles mentioned in recital 9. (2) One major reason for the introduction of rules coordinating procedures for the award of contracts in these sectors is the variety of ways in which national authorities can influence the behaviour of these entities, including participation in their capital and representation in the entities' administrative, managerial or supervisory bodies. (1 ) OJ C 29 E, 30.1.2001, p. 112 and OJ C 203 E, 27.8.2002, p. 183. (2 ) OJ C 193, 10.7.2001, p. 1. (3 ) OJ C 144, 16.5.2001, p. 23. (4 ) Opinion of the European Parliament of 17 January 2002 (OJ C 271 E, 7.11.2002, p. 293), Council Common Position of 20 Mars 2003 (OJ C 147 E, 24.6.2003, p. 137) and Position of the European Parliament of 2 July 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Legislative Resolution of the European Parliament of 29 January 2004 and Decision of the Council of 2 February 2004. (5 ) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 84. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/78/EC (OJ L 285, 29.10.2001, p. 1). 2004L0017 — EN — 01.01.2016 — 014.001 — 3 ▼B (3) Another main reason why it is necessary to coordinate procurement procedures applied by the entities operating in these sectors is the closed nature of the markets in which they operate, due to the existence of special or exclusive rights granted by the Member States concerning the supply to, provision or operation of networks for providing the service concerned. (4) Community legislation, and in particular Council Regulation (EEC) No 3975/87 of 14 December 1987 laying down the procedure for the application of the rules on competition to undertakings in the air transport sector (1 ) and Regulation (EEC) No 3976/87 of 14 December 1987 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to certain categories of agreements and concerted practices in the air transport sector (2 ), is designed to introduce more competition between carriers providing air transport services to the public. It is therefore not appropriate to include such entities in the scope of this Directive. In view of the competitive position of Community shipping, it would also be inappropriate to make the contracts awarded in this sector subject to the rules of this Directive. (5) The scope of Directive 98/38/EEC covers, at present, certain contracts awarded by contracting entities operating in the tele communications sector. A legislative framework, as mentioned in the Fourth report on the implementation of the telecommuni cations regulations of 25 November 1998, has been adopted to open this sector. One of its consequences has been the intro duction of effective competition, both de jure and de facto, in this sector. For information purposes, and in the light of this situation, the Commission has published a list of telecommuni cations services (3 ) which may already be excluded from the scope of that Directive by virtue of Article 8 thereof. Further progress has been confirmed in the Seventh report on the imple mentation of telecommunications regulations of 26 November 2001. It is therefore no longer necessary to regulate purchases by entities operating in this sector. (6) It is therefore no longer appropriate to maintain the Advisory Committee on Telecommunications Procurement set up by Council Directive 90/531/EEC of 17 September 1990 on the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy transport and telecommunications sectors (4 ). (7) Nevertheless, it is appropriate to continue to monitor devel opments in the telecommunications sector and to reconsider the situation if it is established that there is no longer effective competition in that sector. (1 ) OJ L 374, 31.12.1987, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1). (2 ) OJ L 374, 31.12.1987, p. 9. Regulation as last amended by the 1994 Act of Accession. (3 ) OJ C 156, 3.6.1999, p. 3. (4 ) OJ L 297, 29.10.1990, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 164, 30.6.1994, p. 3). 2004L0017 — EN — 01.01.2016 — 014.001 — 4 ▼B (8) Directive 93/38/EEC excludes from its scope purchases of voice telephony, telex, mobile telephone, paging and satellite services. Those exclusions were introduced to take account of the fact that the services in question could frequently be provided only by one service provider in a given geographical area because of the absence of effective competition and the existence of special or exclusive rights. The introduction of effective competition in the telecommunications sector removes the justification for these exclusions. It is therefore necessary to include the procurement of such telecommunications services in the scope of this Directive. (9) In order to guarantee the opening up to competition of public procurement contracts awarded by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors, it is advisable to draw up provisions for Community coordination of contracts above a certain value. Such coordination is based on the requirements inferable from Articles 14, 28 and 49 of the EC Treaty and from Article 97 of the Euratom Treaty, namely the principle of equal treatment, of which the principle of non- discrimination is no more than a specific expression, the principle of mutual recognition, the principle of proportionality, as well as the principle of transparency. In view of the nature of the sectors affected by such coordination, the latter should, while safeguarding the application of those principles, establish a framework for sound commercial practice and should allow maximum flexibility. For public contracts the value of which is lower than that trig gering the application of provisions of Community coordination, it is advisable to recall the case-law developed by the Court of Justice according to which the rules and principles of the Treaties referred to above apply.