Notice for the OJ
Action brought on 15 September 2005 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Italian Republic
(Case C-337/05)
(Language of the case: Italian)
An action against the Italian Republic was brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 15 September 2005 by the Commission of the European Communities, represented by D. Recchia and X. Lewis, acting as Agents.
The Commission claims that the Court should:
Declare that, since the Italian Government and, in particular, the Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence, Economics and Finance, for Agricultural and Forestry Policy, and for Infrastructure and Transport, and the Department of Civil Protection of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, have adopted a procedure, which has been in existence for a long time and is still followed, of directly awarding to the firm 'Agusta' contracts for the purchase of helicopters manufactured by 'Agusta' and 'Agusta Bell' to meet the requirements of the military corps of the fire brigade, the Carabinieri, the State Forestry Corps, the Coastguard, the Revenue Guard Corps, the State Police and the Department of Civil Protection, without any tendering procedure, in particular without complying with the procedures provided for by Directive 93/36/EEC
1 and, earlier, by Directive 77/62/EEC,
2 Directive 80/767/EEC
3 and 88/295/EEC,
4 the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the abovementioned directives;
Order the Italian Republic to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments
The Government of the Italian Republic and, in particular, the Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence, Economics and Finance, for Agricultural and Forestry Policy, and for Infrastructure and Transport, and the Department of Civil Protection of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, have adopted a procedure, which has been in existence for a long time and is still followed, of directly awarding to the firm 'Agusta' contracts for the purchase of helicopters manufactured by 'Agusta' and 'Agusta Bell' to meet the requirements of the military corps of the fire brigade, the Carabinieri, the State Forestry Corps, the Coastguard, the Revenue Guard Corps, the State Police and the Department of Civil Protection, without any tendering procedure, in particular without complying with the procedures provided for by Directive 93/36/EEC and, earlier, by Directive 77/62/EEC, Directive 80/767/EEC and 88/295/EEC, and has thereby failed to fulfil its obligations under the abovementioned directives.
Following receipt of a complaint, the Commission acquired information from which it appears that the Italian Government has operated that procedure for a long time.
The Commission takes the view that that practice is incompatible with the directives on public supply contracts referred to above in so far as none of the conditions to which recourse to the negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice is subject appears to have been satisfied.
The Commission considers, moreover, that Italy has not shown that the practice in question is justified on the basis of Article 2 of Directive 93/36/EEC, according to which the directive is not to apply to supply contracts which are declared secret or the execution of which must be accompanied by special security measures in accordance with the laws, regulations or administrative provisions in force in the Member States concerned or when the protection of the basic interests of the Member State's security so requires.
____________1 - OJ L 199 of 09.08.1993, p. 1.2 - OJ L 13 of 15.01.1977, p. 1.3 - OJ L 215 of 18.08.1980, p. 1.4 - OJ l 127 of 20.05.1988, p. 1.