The Court of Justice of the EU clarifies the application of the limitation period rules to an anti-competitive bid-rigging practice
By its recent preliminary ruling in Eltel [1] , the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) considered how the date when a violation of Article 101 TFEU in the form of a bid-rigging conduct interfering with a procurement procedure for construction works should be determined. Is the date when the public works are completed or when they are fully paid for to the awardee of the public contract? Replying to this question was instrumental to determine whether the acting national competition authority was still empowered to penalize the wrongdoers or was time-barred due to the expiry of the relevant 5-year limitation period. The facts of the case On 4 June 2007 Entel submitted an offer in a competitive tender procedure for the award a public works contract for the construction of an electricity transmission line. Its bid was accepted by the contracting authority, Fingrid which concluded with Entel the public contract on 19 June 2007. The works were completed on 12 November 2009 and the las