Quando un contratto pubblico ha un destino “speciale”: la corte di giustizia si pronuncia sul nesso tra l’appalto e il settore speciale nella direttiva 2014/25/ue

The Court of Justice, in its Pegaso v Poste Tutela judgment, deepens for the first time the link between a public contract and the activities in the sectors covered by Directive 2014/25/EU. According to the preliminary ruling of the Court, a public contract is considered to be related to those sectors if it actually serves to adequately carry out the activity in them. Public contracts intended to cover several activities may also be relevant, provided that the main activity benefiting from them is in the sector covered by the Directive. Some narrower rulings of the national courts will have to be reconsidered.The Court of Justice did not rule on other questions raised by the referring court, linked to contrasting interpretations between the national administrative courts and the Corte di cassazione, regarding the nature of Poste Italiane as a “body governed by public law”. However, the judgment provides some guidance for addressing these issues in a different way.