Capital groups and in-house procurement: Commentary on the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 15 January 2026 in Case C-692/23 AVR-Afvalverwerking BV
In-house procurement (for own units) has been excluded from competitive public procurement procedures because the contracting authority performs public tasks itself. Therefore, the conditions governing their use must be interpreted strictly, and a mere reference to the relevant legal provisions is insufficient. When announcing its intention to award the contract, the contracting authority is obliged to justify its use. Otherwise, competition in the procurement procedure will be compromised due to the lack of verification by other contractors of the appropriateness and correctness of using the direct award procedure. The latest CJEU judgment of 15 January 2026 in Case C-692/23 AVR-Afvalverwerking confirms the importance of correctly interpreting the in-house exemption, especially from the perspective of protecting competition in public procurement.
References
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