This was established by the EU Court of Justice, called to rule on the case by the Italian Council of State.
(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, MARCH 21 - The award, in 2016, of the concession for public transport in Tuscany to Autolinee Toscane is not vitiated by the fact that this company is owned by the French Ratp. This was established by the EU Court of Justice, called upon to rule on the case by the Italian Council of State.
The legal dispute arises from the appeal brought by the transport company Mobit against the award to the Autolinee Toscane (AT) company of the concession for local public transport in Tuscany. According to Mobit, AT should have been excluded from the tender by virtue of a European regulation of 2007 (No. 1370), which prohibits an 'internal operator' from participating in tenders relating to territorial areas other than those in which it already operates in conditions of non-competitive advantage.
AT, in fact, is controlled by the French public company Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (Ratp), to which the State has entrusted public transport services by direct allocation, and for this reason, according to the applicants, should be considered as an "internal operator". Following a second appeal filed by Autolinee Toscane against Mobit's offer, in 2016 the TAR canceled the award of the tender to Autolinee, also excluding Mobit's offer. Hence the appeal of both companies to the Council of State.
With today's ruling, the EU Court found that, based on a transitional rule, regulation 1370/2007 is not applicable to an award procedure which took place before 3 December 2019, such as the one involved in the procedure.