Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 7 November 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale amministrativo regionale per il Lazio – Italy) – Adusbef – Associazione difesa utenti servizi bancari e finanziari v Presidenza del Consiglio dei ministri, Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze and Others

(Case C-683/22,  (1) Adusbef (Pont Morandi))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Directive 2014/23/EU - Procedure for awarding concession contracts - Article 43 - Modification made to a concession during its term without opening up to competition - Concession of motorways - Collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa (Italy) - National proceedings for serious failure to fulfil motorway network maintenance and preservation obligations - New obligations imposed on the concessionaire - Obligation of the contracting authority to make a prior decision on whether it is necessary to organise a new award procedure - Obligation of the contracting authority to carry out a prior examination of the reliability of the concessionaire)

(C/2025/34)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Tribunale amministrativo regionale per il Lazio

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Adusbef – Associazione difesa utenti servizi bancari e finanziari

Defendants: Presidenza del Consiglio dei ministri, Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze, Ministero delle Infrastrutture e della Mobilità sostenibili, DIPE – Dipartimento programmazione e coordinamento della politica economica, Autorità di regolazione dei trasporti, Corte dei Conti, Avvocatura generale dello Stato

Interveners: Mundys SpA, formerly Atlantia SpA, Autostrade per l’Italia SpA, Holding Reti Autostradali SpA

Operative part of the judgment

1.

Article 43 of Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the award of concession contracts, read in conjunction with the general principle of sound administration, must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation under which a contracting authority may modify a concession during its term with regard to the entities concerned and the substance thereof, without organising a new concession award procedure, provided that that modification does not fall under Article 43(5) of that directive and that the contracting authority has set out the reasons why it considered that it was not required to organise such a procedure.

2.

Article 43 of Directive 2014/23 must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation under which the contracting authority is entitled to modify a concession during its term without having assessed the reliability of the concessionaire, where that modification is not caught by either point (d)(ii) of the first subparagraph of Article 43(1) or Article 43(5) of the directive. It is for each Member State to determine the rules allowing the contracting authority to react when the concessionaire has committed a serious failure to fulfil its obligations or is suspected to have done so, which calls into question its reliability, during the term of the concession.

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(1)   OJ C 35, 30.1.2023.