Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2000:330
Date: 2000-06-15
Language of the case: German
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: Austria

Summary of the Judgment 
Approximation of laws — Procedures for the award of public service contracts — 
Directive 92/50 — Principle of equal treatment of tenderers — Participation of tenderers 
receiving subsidies from contracting authorities enabling them to submit tenders at prices 
lower than those of their competitors — Not covert discrimination 
(EC Treaty, Art. 59 (now, after amendment, Art. 49 EC); Council Directive 92/50) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-94/99 
The mere fact that the contracting author­
ity allows bodies receiving subsidies of any 
kind, whether from that contracting 
authority or from other authorities, which 
enable them to submit tenders at prices 
appreciably lower than those of the other, 
unsubsidised, tenderers, to take part in a 
procedure for the award of a public service 
contract does not amount to a breach of the 
principle of equal treatment laid down in 
Directive 92/50 relating to the coordination 
of procedures for the award of public 
service contracts. 
The mere fact that a contracting authority 
allows such bodies to take part in a 
procedure for the award of a public service 
contract does not constitute either covert 
discrimination or a restriction contrary to 
Article 59 of the Treaty (now, after amend­
ment, Article 49 EC). 
(see paras 32, 38, and operative parts 1-2) 
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