European Court of Justice Rules Against the Italian FA

ECJ, 3 February 2021, Joined Cases C-155/19 and C-156/19, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) and Consorzio Ge.Se.Av. S. c. arl v. De Vellis Servizi Globali Srl

Date of the decision: 2021-02-03

In a judgement rendered on 3 February 2021, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided that a national sports federation, such as the Italian Football Federation (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio - FIGC), may be subject to the rules on the award of public contracts if it pursues activities of general interest not having an industrial or commercial character. However, such a federation having legal personality must also be subject to supervision by a public authority, such as the Italian National Olympic Committee (Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano - CONI), in the sense that the latter must be able to influence the federation’s decisions with regard to public contracts.

The FIGC organised a negotiated procedure for the award of a contract for porterage services for accompanying the national football teams and for the purposes of the FIGC store for a period of three years. At the end of that procedure, one of the tenderers invited to participate in it, but to whom the contract was not awarded, brought an action before the Tribunale amministrativo regionale per il Lazio (Regional Administrative Court, Lazio, Italy) to challenge the detailed rules governing the conduct of that procedure. According to that tenderer, the FIGC must be regarded as a body governed by public law and should, therefore, have complied with the rules on publication laid down by the legislation on public procurement.

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European Court of Justice Rules Against the Italian FA

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