Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2002:238
Date: 2002-04-18
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 
1. Approximation of laws — Procedures for the award of public service contracts — 
Directive 92/50 — Services falling partly within Annex IA and partly within Annex I 
B — Determination of the applicable regime — Criteria — Main purpose of the 
contract — Excluded — Comparison of the value of the services 
(Council Directive 92/50, Art. 10 and Annexes IA and I B) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-411/00 
2. Approximation of laws — Procedures for the award of public service contracts — 
Directive 92/50 — Contract with a single purpose but composed of several services — 
Classification in Annexes IA and IB — Whether permissible — Obligation to award 
separate contracts when the value of the services in Annex I B exceeds that of the 
services falling within Annex IA — No such obligation 
(Council Directive 92/50, Art. 10 and Annexes IA and I B) 
3. Approximation of laws — Procedures for the award of public service contracts — 
Directive 92/50 — Removal contract composed of services falling partly within 
Annex IA and partly within Annex I B — Determination of the applicable regime — 
Assessment by the national court 
(Council Directive 92/50, Art. 10 and Annexes I A and I B) 
1. The determination of the regime appli­
cable to public service contracts 
composed partly of services falling 
within Annex I A and partly of services 
falling within Annex I B to Directive 
92/50 relating to the coordination of 
procedures for the award of public 
service contracts, does not depend on 
the main purpose of those contracts 
and is to be made in accordance with 
the unequivocal test laid down by 
Article 10 of that directive based on 
comparison of the value of the services 
covered by Annex I A with that of the 
services covered by Annex I B. 
(see paras 52-53, operative part 1) 
2. In the context of the award of a 
contract with a single object but 
composed of several services, the clas­
sification of those services in Annexes 
I A and I B to Directive 92/50 relating 
to the coordination of procedures for 
the award of public service contracts, 
far from depriving it of its effective­
ness, is in accordance with the system 
laid down by the directive. When, 
following the classification thus made 
by reference to the nomenclature of the 
United Nations Common Product 
Classification, the value of the services 
falling within Annex I B exceeds the 
value of the services falling within 
Annex I A, there is no obligation on 
the part of the contracting authority to 
separate from the contract in question 
the services referred to in Annex I B 
and to award separate contracts in 
respect of them. 
The position would only be different if 
the contracting authority artificially 
grouped in one contract services of 
different types, without there being any 
link arising from a joint purpose or 
operation, with the sole purpose of 
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FELIX SWOBODA 
increasing the proportion of the ser­
vices referred to in Annex I B to 
Directive 92/50 in the contract and 
thus of avoiding, by way of the second 
sentence of Article 10, the application 
of its provisions in full. 
(see paras 57, 60, operative part 2) 
3. In the context of a removal contract 
composed of services falling within 
Annex I A and within Annex I B to 
Directive 92/50 relating to the coor­
dination of procedures for the award of 
public service contracts, it is for the 
national court to determine the regime 
applicable to the contract forming the 
subject of the procedure at issue in the 
main proceedings on the basis of 
Article 10 of Directive 92/50, in par­
ticular, by verifying that the services 
which make up that contract and the 
reference numbers of the CPC nomen­
clature correspond. 
However, Category 20 of Annex I B 
cannot in any case be interpreted as 
also including land transport services 
themselves, as they are explicitly 
covered by Category 2 of Annex I A. 
(see paras 35, 66, operative part 3) 
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