62023CJ0534_SUM
Joined Cases C‑534/23 P and C‑539/23 P
Instituto CervantesandKingdom of Spain v European Commission
Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber), 3 July 2025
(Appeal – Award of public contracts by the European Union – Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 – Contract for language training services – Obligation to submit tenders via the electronic application eSubmission – Use by a tenderer of a hypertext link to a website containing documents describing the tender – Refusal of the administration to take those documents into consideration – Principles of legal certainty and the protection of legitimate expectations – Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Objective impartiality – Obligation to state reasons – Comparative tender evaluation method)
European Union public contracts – Tendering procedure – Rules for submission of tenders – Obligation to upload the tender directly to the eSubmission platform – Guarantee that tenders are submitted via a secure application – Obligation in the tender specifications requiring the tenderer to follow the instructions in the eSubmission quick guide – Unambiguous obligation – Use by a tenderer of a hypertext link to a website containing documents describing the tender – Refusal of the administration to take those documents into consideration – Infringement of the principles of the protection of legitimate expectations and legal certainty – None
(European Parliament and Council Regulation 2018/1046, Art. 149(1) and Annex I, point 16.2)
(see paragraphs 71-76, 82-84)
Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Decision, in the procedure for the award of a public service contract, not to accept a tender – Provision for a weighting of points at criterion and sub-criterion level – No specific weighting of points for the various individual components within each sub-criterion – Obligation to calculate or give a precise indication expressed in points on the contribution of each comment relating to an individual component of the sub-criterion to the score obtained under that sub-criterion – None
(Art. 296, second para., TFEU)
(see paragraphs 125-129)
See the text of the decision.