Judgment of the ECJ of 30 January 2020 in case C-395/18 — obligation to exclude a contractor when the grounds for exclusion concern subcontractors

The commented ruling of the ECJ has practical implications for the public procurement market in the Member States. The ECJ examined whether in the situation when grounds for exclusion arise in relation to a subcontractor, the contracting authority may exclude from the procedure the contractor who indicated the subcontractor in its tender. The aim of the article is to show the correct procedure of the contracting authority in a situation where the grounds for exclusion concern subcontractors. The ECJ confirmed the compliance with EU law of national regulations providing for the possibility of examining exclusion criteria also in relation to subcontractors. However, according to the principle of proportionality, the contracting authority must be able to assess whether the economic operator is able to perform the contract without the subcontractor's participation before the exclusion of the economic operator. Thus, the ECJ ruled that national legislation providing for the automatic character of such exclusion are incompatible with EU law.

Bibliografia/References

Raczkiewicz, Z. (2020). Tenderers may be excluded, if the grounds for exclusion are applicable to their subcontractors: Annotation on the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (Second Chamber) of 30 January 2020 in Case C-395/18 Tim SpA — Direzione

e coordinamento Vivendi SA v Consip SpA and Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze. European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, 15. https://doi.org/10.21552/epppl/2020/2/11

Olszewska, M. (2020). Naruszenie obowiązków przez podwykonawcę. Monitor Zamówień Publicznych, (4), https://www.monitorzamowien.pl/artykul/naruszenie-obowiazkow-przez-podwykonawce (30.09.2021).

Hryc-Ląd, A., Smerd, A., Gawrońska-Baran, A. (2016). Prawo zamówień publicznych 2016. Komentarz do nowelizacji. Warszawa: Wiedza i Praktyka.