Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1997:513
Date: 1997-10-23
Language of the case: Dutch
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Right of establishment;Approximation of laws;Freedom to provide services
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the J u d g m e n t 
Approximation of laws — Tendering procedures for public-works contracts — Directives 71/304 
and 71/305 — Registration of contractors — Application made by a parent company not carrying 
out the works itself but relying, in order to prove its capacities, on references relating to its sub­
sidiaries — Resources of subsidiaries available to parent company — Requirement on part of 
national authority to take account of those references 
(Council Directives 71/304 and 71/305) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-5/97 
Directive 71/304, concerning the abolition of 
restrictions on freedom to provide services in 
respect of public works contracts and on the 
award of public works contracts to contrac­
tors acting through agencies or branches, and 
Directive 71/305, concerning the coordina­
tion of procedures for the award of public 
works contracts, are to be interpreted as 
meaning that the authority competent to 
decide on an application for registration sub­
mitted by a dominant legal person of a group 
is under an obligation, where it is established 
that that person actually has available to it 
the resources of the companies belonging to 
a group that are necessary to carry out the 
contracts, to take account of the references 
of those companies in assessing the suitabil­
ity of the legal person in question, in accord­
ance with the criteria mentioned in Articles 
23 to 28 of Directive 71/305. 
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