CJEU Case C-210/24 / Judgment

Asociación de Empresas de Servicios para la Dependencia (AESTE) v Ayuntamiento de Ortuella
Deciding body type
Court of Justice of the European Union
Deciding body
Court (Second Chamber)
Type
Decision
Decision date
05/03/2026
ECLI (European case law identifier)
ECLI:EU:C:2026:145
  • CJEU Case C-210/24 / Judgment

    Key facts of the case:

    Request for a preliminary ruling from the Órgano Administrativo de Recursos Contractuales de la Comunidad Autónoma de Euskadi.
    Reference for a preliminary ruling – Public procurement – Directive 2014/24/EU – Contract for social services without accommodation – Contract with a value below the threshold for that directive to apply – Article 67 – Award criteria of a social nature – Most economically advantageous tender – Salary increase of staff performing the contract above the salary level provided for in the sectoral collective agreement – Connection with the subject matter of the contract – Proportionality and non-discrimination – Article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Right to negotiate by collective agreement

    Outcome of the case:

    On those grounds, the Court (Second Chamber) hereby rules:

    1. Article 67(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC

      must be interpreted as meaning that a criterion for the award of a public contract for social services without accommodation which takes into consideration an increase, above the level resulting from the application of the sectoral collective agreement in force, in the total payroll that the tenderer proposes to apply to the staff performing the contract, allows the contracting authority to identify the most economically advantageous tender, within the meaning of that provision.

    2. Article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must be interpreted as not precluding a criterion for the award of a public contract for social services without accommodation which, first, takes into consideration an increase, above the level resulting from the application of the sectoral collective agreement in force, in the total payroll that the tenderer proposes to apply to the staff performing the contract and, second, requires that tenderer to specify, after collective negotiation with the representatives of that staff, the elements of remuneration covered by that salary increase and to endeavour to conclude a collective agreement applying to that staff.
  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter

    65. By its third question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 28 of the Charter must be interpreted as precluding a criterion for the award of a public contract for social services without accommodation which, first, takes into consideration an increase, above the level resulting from the application of the sectoral collective agreement in force, in the total payroll that the tenderer proposes to apply to the staff performing the contract and, second, requires that tenderer to specify, after a collective negotiation with the representatives of that staff, the elements of remuneration covered by that salary increase and to endeavour to conclude a collective agreement applying to that staff.

    66. As a preliminary point, it should be noted that, in accordance with Article 51(1) of the Charter, the provisions of the Charter are addressed to the Member States only when they are implementing EU law. The concept of ‘implementing Union law’ presupposes a degree of connection between an act of EU law and the national measure in question, above and beyond the matters covered being closely related or one of those matters having an indirect impact on the other (judgment of 28 November 2024, PT (Agreement concluded between the prosecutor and the perpetrator of an offence), C‑432/22, EU:C:2024:987, paragraph 35 and the case-law cited).

    67. In that regard, it should be noted that it is apparent from the order for reference that the LCSP, which is applicable to the dispute in the main proceedings, is the legislative act that transposes Directive 2014/24 into national law. Furthermore, as is apparent from paragraphs 30 to 34 of the present judgment, where the value of the contract at issue is below the threshold laid down in Article 4(d) of Directive 2014/24, it is provided in Article 145 of the LCSP, read in conjunction with the forty-seventh additional provision of that law, and as the Spanish Government confirmed at the hearing, that the national legislation is to comply, directly and unconditionally, with that directive for solutions that it provides in situations not covered by that directive. It therefore follows that, as the Advocate General observed in point 23 of his Opinion, Article 28 of the Charter is applicable.

    ...

    69. Having regard to the EU acquis in this area and, in particular, to the first paragraph of Article 152 TFEU, which provides that the European Union ‘recognises and promotes the role of the social partners at its level, taking into account the diversity of national systems’ and that it ‘facilitate[s] dialogue between the social partners, [while] respecting their autonomy’, it should be noted that Article 28 of the Charter presupposes that those partners are autonomous. That autonomy means that, during the negotiation stage of an agreement by the social partners, which exclusively involves the latter, they may engage in dialogue and act freely without receiving any order or instruction from whomsoever and, in particular, not from the Member States or the EU institutions (see, to that effect, judgment of 15 December 2022, TimePartner Personalmanagement, C‑311/21, EU:C:2022:983, paragraph 72 and the case-law cited).

    ...

    76. Having regard to the foregoing considerations, Article 28 of the Charter must be interpreted as not precluding a criterion for the award of a public contract for social services without accommodation which, first, takes into consideration an increase, above the level resulting from the application of the sectoral collective agreement in force, in the total payroll that the tenderer proposes to apply to the staff performing the contract and, second, requires that tenderer to specify, after collective negotiation with the representatives of that staff, the elements of remuneration covered by that salary increase and to endeavour to conclude a collective agreement applying to that staff.

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter (original language)