Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 10 October 2012 — Evropaïki Dynamiki v Commission

(Case T-247/09)

Public service contracts — Tendering procedure — Supply of services relating to the production and dissemination of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union and related offline and online media — Rejection of the bid of one tenderer and decision to award the contract to another tenderer — Obligation to state reasons — Equal treatment — Manifest error of assessment — Non-contractual liability

1. 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 — Assessment having regard to the information available to the applicant at the time the action was brought (Art. 253 EC; Council Regulation No 1605/2002, Art. 100(2); Commission Regulation No 2342/2002, Art. 149) (see paras 30-34)

2. 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 — Obligation to communicate, following a written request, the characteristics and relative advantages of the tender accepted and the name of the tenderer (Council Regulation No 1605/2002, Art. 100(2)) (see paras 47, 172-174)

3. EU public contracts — Conclusion of a contract by tender — Discretion of the institutions — Judicial review — Limits (Council Regulation No 1605/2002; Commission Regulation No 2342/2002, Art. 146(1), second para.) (see paras 50, 75)

4. Proceedings — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Identification of the subject-matter of the dispute — Summary statement of pleas (Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 21, first para., and 53, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 44(1)(c)) (see para. 57)

5. EU public contracts — Tender procedure — Duty to comply with the principle of equal treatment of tenderers — Need to ensure equal opportunities and comply with the principle of transparency — Scope (see paras 66-69)

6. Proceedings — Introduction of new pleas during the proceedings — Conditions — New plea — Concept (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Arts 44(1)(c) and 48(2)) (see para. 165)

7. Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Unlawfulness — Damage — Causal link — One of the conditions not satisfied — Claim for compensation dismissed in its entirety (Art. 288, second para., EC) (see para. 177)

8. Proceedings — Costs — Costs caused unreasonably or vexatiously — Conduct of an institution encouraging the dispute (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 87(3), second para.) (see paras 183, 184)

Re:

APPLICATION for the annulment of the decision of the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities of 7 April 2009 to reject the bid submitted by the applicant filed in response to the call for tenders for the supply of services for the production and dissemination of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union and related offline and online media, and all further decisions of the Office for Publications, including the one to award the contract to another tenderer, and a claim for damages.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;