Case C-336/12: Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 10 October 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Østre Landsret — Denmark) — Ministeriet for Forskning, Innovation og Videregående Uddannelser v Manova A/S (Request for a preliminary ruling — Public procurement — Directive 2004/18/EC — Principle of equal treatment — Restricted procedure — Contract notice — Requirement for a copy of the most recent published balance sheet to be enclosed with the application — Copies of balance sheets not enclosed with some candidates’ applications — Right of the contracting authority to ask those candidates to provide copies of those balance sheets after the deadline for filing applications)
Date: 2013-10-10
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: administrative contract, equal treatment, invitation to tender








C_2013344EN.01003402.xml










23.11.2013   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 344/34





Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 10 October 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Østre Landsret — Denmark) — Ministeriet for Forskning, Innovation og Videregående Uddannelser v Manova A/S
(Case C-336/12) (1)

(Request for a preliminary ruling - Public procurement - Directive 2004/18/EC - Principle of equal treatment - Restricted procedure - Contract notice - Requirement for a copy of the most recent published balance sheet to be enclosed with the application - Copies of balance sheets not enclosed with some candidates’ applications - Right of the contracting authority to ask those candidates to provide copies of those balance sheets after the deadline for filing applications)
2013/C 344/59
Language of the case: Danish

Referring court

Østre Landsret

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Ministeriet for Forskning, Innovation og Videregående Uddannelser

Defendant: Manova A/S

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Østre Landsret — Interpretation of Annex IIB to Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts (OJ 2004 L 134, p. 114) — Principle of equal treatment — Contracting authority which has made success at the screening stage conditional upon candidates filing copies of their most recent balance sheets — Request from that contracting authority for candidates which have not enclosed copies of their most recent balance sheets with their screening applications to provide copies of the balance sheets even though the deadline for filing the applications has passed

Operative part of the judgment

The principle of equal treatment must be interpreted as not precluding a contracting authority from asking a candidate, after the deadline for applying to take part in a tendering procedure, to provide documents describing that candidate’s situation — such as a copy of its published balance sheet — which can be objectively shown to pre-date that deadline, so long as it was not expressly laid down in the contract documents that, unless such documents were provided, the application would be rejected. That request must not unduly favour or disadvantage the candidate or candidates to which it is addressed.


(1)  OJ C 287, 22.9.2012.