Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the award of concession contracts, for the first time at the EU level uniformly regulates the awarding of works and services concessions. It is transposed into the Slovenian legal order by the Act on Certain Concession Contracts (CCCA). A key change is the extension of the remedies directives to concessions, especially service concessions. Legal protection is governed by national legislation and European rules. Legal protection depends on the act of selection, which may be either a business act or an administrative act. Jurisdiction is divided between the National Review Commission (NRC) and the administrative authority or the Administrative Court. However, this does not mean that the (un)successful tenderer has the freedom to choose the body of legal protection. Article 10 of the CCCA stipulates that if certain criteria are cumulatively met, CCCA is used and therefore review procedure before NRC is provided for concessions falling within its scope. Some of its decisions may be subject to administrative dispute proceedings, which, due to their limitations, are not effective for tenderers. For other service concessions (excluded from the scope of the CCCA), legal protection remains within the administrative legal sphere. Review procedures are extremely effective, as they allow to set aside violations already at the tender stage, regulate a special standstill period, and are very fast. Also provisions of the remedies directives are interpreted very broadly by the Court of Justice of the European Union. Protection within the administrative legal sphere is neither effective nor fast. An analysis of decisions via the public procurement portal also shows that contracting authorities often incorrectly cite the applicable legal protection (within the review procedure). A major obstacle is the threshold for the application of the CCCA, since (value of) concession rarely reaches it. Some uncertainties can arise from the very definition of a concession, as the definitions under national and EU regulations differ. The definition of risk is also important.
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