Press Release: Public procurement: Commission acts to enforce EU law in Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Austria, Portugal and Finland

The European Commission on 14 January 2005 decided in twenty cases against seven Member States either to refer those Member States to the European Court of Justice or to formally request them to correct breaches of EU public procurement law. Requests of this kind took the form of 'reasoned opinions', the second stage of the infringement procedure under Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If no satisfactory response was to be received within two months, the Commission had the option to go to the European Court of Justice.