L’application du droit des marchés publics à l’approvisionnement en électricité

In March 2021, the Competition Commission issued a recommendation pertaining to the application of public procurement law and the Federal Internal Market Act to the procurement of electricity. The purpose of this recommendation was to examine in which cases the purchase of electricity must be subject to public tenders; it clarified that public procurement law may apply in several instances to electricity purchases by contracting authorities. The purpose of this contribution is to shed light on the legal situation in this area, highlighting the legal issues currently outstanding and examining some practical aspects of electricity supply from the perspective of public procurement law. Although the recommendation is broadly approved, one important point remains controversial: the application of public procurement law to the purchase of electricity for its own consumption by a contracting authority with access to the free market (i.e. an eligible consumer), which has not made use of its…