27.9.2008

Official Journal of the European Union

C 247/7

(Case C-305/08)

(2008/C 247/11)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: CoNISMa (Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare)

Defendant: Regione Marche

Questions referred

1.Must the provisions of Directive 2004/18/EC (1) on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts that are referred to in section 1 above be interpreted as precluding a consortium made up solely of Italian universities and state bodies, as described in section 8 above, from taking part in a tendering procedure for the award of a service contract such as that for the acquisition of geophysical data and marine samples?

2.Are the provisions of Italian law contained in Article 3(22) and (19) and Article 34 of the Public Contracts Code, enacted by Legislative Decree No 163/2006, which provide, respectively: that ‘the term “economic operator” shall include a contractor, supplier, service provider or a group or consortium of these’ and ‘the terms “contractor”, “supplier” and “service provider” shall mean any natural or legal person, or body without legal personality, including a European Economic Interest Group (EEIG) formed pursuant to Legislative Decree No 240 of 23 July 1991, which “offers on the market”, respectively, the execution of works or a work, the supply of products or the provision of services’, contrary to Directive 2004/18/EC if interpreted as restricting participation in tendering procedures to professional providers of such services and excluding entities whose primary objects are not-for-profit, such as research?

(1) OJ L 2004 134, p. 114.