Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-452/23

PRESS RELEASE No 53/25 Luxembourg, 29 April 2025 Judgment of the Court in Case C-452/23 | Fastned Deutschland The Court of Justice provides clarity on the circumstances in which a concession may be modified without a new award procedure The possibility of modifying a concession contract without a new award procedure in certain circumstances is also available in the context of a concession originally awarded to an in-house entity where the concessionaire has subsequently been privatised In the context of a dispute concerning the extension of existing concessions for the operation of service areas on German motorways to include the construction and operation of charging stations for electric vehicles, the Court of Justice was asked whether, in certain circumstances, such an extension might be carried out without a new award procedure. The Court finds that the fact that the concession was originally awarded to an in-house entity and the concessionaire has subsequently been privatised does not preclude this. It is not necessary to check whether the original award of the concession was lawful where any period for challenging the lawfulness of the award has expired. The condition that the ‘need for’ modification must have been ‘brought about’ by unforeseeable circumstances means that those circumstances require the original concession to be adapted in order to ensure that the proper performance of the concession may continue. Approximately 90% of the...