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The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) recently issued an important judgment in Case C-652/22, a request for a preliminary ruling made by the Visoki upravni sud (High Administrative Court, Croatia), concerning a case where a Turkish company challenged a Croatian public procurement decision. The case raised questions about the rights of economic operators from third countries, like Turkey, to participate in EU public procurement procedures.
The Court concluded that Directive 2014/25/EU, which governs procurement in the water, energy, transport, and postal sectors, does not apply to operators from third countries that do not have reciprocal agreements with the EU, such as Turkey. In this case, Kolin Inşaat could not rely on the provisions of EU law, such as the principles of equal treatment or non-discrimination, to challenge the decision to award a public contract. The judgment confirmed that access to public procurement procedures in the EU for such operators is not guaranteed and may be restricted.
This ruling clarifies that third-country operators cannot invoke the rights afforded to EU or GPA (Government Procurement Agreement) countries unless there is a specific agreement in place.
The request for a preliminary ruling made by the Visoki upravni sud (High Administrative Court, Croatia), by decision of 10 October 2022, is inadmissible.