Case C-266/22, CRRC Qingdao Sifang and Others: Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 13 March 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel București – Romania) – CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd, Astra Vagoane Călători SA v Autoritatea pentru Reformă Feroviară, Alstom Ferroviaria SpA (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Public procurement in the European Union – Directive 2014/24/EU – Article 25 – Economic operators of a third country which has not concluded an international agreement with the European Union which guarantees access to public procurement in a reciprocal and equal manner – No right for those economic operators to no less favourable treatment – Exclusion of such an economic operator from a public procurement procedure, pursuant to national legislation – Exclusive competence of the European Union)
Date: 2025-03-13
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: administrative transparency, amendment of a law, award of contract, equal treatment, principle of legal certainty, principle of proportionality, public procurement, tendering








C_202502491EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/2491


12.5.2025






Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 13 March 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel București – Romania) – CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd, Astra Vagoane Călători SA v Autoritatea pentru Reformă Feroviară, Alstom Ferroviaria SpA


(Case C-266/22,
                (1)
CRRC Qingdao Sifang and Others)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Public procurement in the European Union - Directive 2014/24/EU - Article 25 - Economic operators of a third country which has not concluded an international agreement with the European Union which guarantees access to public procurement in a reciprocal and equal manner - No right for those economic operators to ‘no less favourable treatment’ - Exclusion of such an economic operator from a public procurement procedure, pursuant to national legislation - Exclusive competence of the European Union)
(C/2025/2491)
Language of the case: Romanian

Referring court

Curtea de Apel București

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd, Astra Vagoane Călători SA

Defendants: Autoritatea pentru Reformă Feroviară, Alstom Ferroviaria SpA

Operative part of the judgment

Article 3(1)(e) TFEU, which confers on the European Union an exclusive competence in the area of common commercial policy, read in conjunction with Article 2(1) TFEU,
must be interpreted as precluding, in the absence of an EU act requiring or prohibiting access to public procurement procedures of economic operators of a third country which has not concluded an international agreement referred to in Article 25 of Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC, a contracting authority of a Member State from excluding an economic operator of such a third country on the basis of a legislative act that that Member State adopted without having been empowered to do so by the European Union, it being irrelevant in that regard that that legislative act entered into force after the publication of the contract notice.


(1)  
            OJ C 303, 8.8.2022.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/2491/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)