Case C‑336/12

Ministeriet for Forskning, Innovation og Videregående Uddannelser

v

Manova A/S

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Østre Landsret)

(Reference 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)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber), 10 October 2013

1.        Approximation of laws — Procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts — Services listed in Annex IIB to Directive 2004/18 — Contracts of certain cross-border interest — Obligation for the contracting authority to comply with the rules and principles of the Treaty — Principle of equal treatment — Obligation of transparency

(Arts 49 TFEU and 56 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/18, Arts 21, 23 and 35(4) and Annex II B)

2.        Approximation of laws — Procedure for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts — Directive 2004/18 — Restricted procedure — Compliance with the principle of equal treatment — Right of the contracting authority to ask a candidate to provide copies of documents, such as a published balance sheet, after the deadline for filing applications — Condition — No clause rejecting applications in the event that such documents are not provided

(European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/18)

1.        See the text of the decision.

(see paras 26, 28, 29, 31)

2.        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 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.

Such a request for clarification of a tender must, as a general rule, be sent in an equivalent manner to all tenderers in the same situation, must relate to all sections of the tender which require clarification, and may not lead to the submission, by a tenderer, of what would appear in reality to be a new tender.

(see paras 34-38, 42, operative part)