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Grégory Marson

BG2V Avocats (Paris)

Counsel

Grégory Marson is Counsel at the law firm BG2V since January 2023. Before that he was an associate in the Paris office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. Grégory is a member of the Paris Bar. Specialized in public economic law, his practice is focused on issues relating to state aid rules, competition law, government contracts, freedom of movement, energy related issues as well as infrastructure law. He holds particular expertise in matters regarding the rail, energy, banking and insurance sectors. He also advises companies in actions brought before the European Commission and regulatory authorities. Grégory Marson has extensive experience representing and assisting both state-owned entities (such as the French State and governmental bodies) and private entities in their development, by providing solutions to compliance issues under various regulations. In addition, he has provided assistance in administrative proceedings before all the administrative courts acting as counsel for both claimants and defendants. Grégory has had experience in priority preliminary proceedings on the issue of constitutionality before the French Constitutional Council. Grégory Marson is also a lecturer in administrative law and a member of the Research Center on Public Law at the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Defense. Grégory has a Phd in public economic law and authored several articles on administrative law and competition law issues in legal journals.

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Articles

2927 Review

Grégory Marson Action for damages : The French Supreme Administrative Court rules that where a public entity’s loss results from anti-competitive practices in which its governing bodies participated, the statute of limitations can only begin to run from the date on which, after the governing bodies have been replaced, the new governing bodies acquire sufficiently certain knowledge of the extent of these practices (Gespace France et alii)

9 May 2023 118

According to the Paris Court of Appeal, anti-competitive cartel practices relating to public procurement tendering procedures "are particularly serious in nature" (CA Paris, March 28, 2013, Société Allez et Cie e.a., no. 2011/20125, p. 32). Similarly, the Conseil de la Concurrence (French (...)

Grégory Marson Delegation of public service: The French Supreme Administrative Court stated that the provisions of a branch agreement or a professional or interprofessional agreement made mandatory by ministerial decree are binding on candidates for the award of a public service delegation contract when they fall within the scope of this agreement and, consequently, that a final offer mentioning an inapplicable collective agreement or one that does not comply with the applicable agreement cannot be accepted by the conceding authority and must be rejected as irregular (Action développement loisir)

10 October 2022 68

The community of communes of Granville Terre et Mer had launched a consultation with a view to awarding the public service delegation relating to the operation of its aquatic center located in Granville [hereafter the "Contract"]. Four candidates, including Action Développement Loisir (...)

Grégory Marson Delegation of public service: The French Supreme Administrative Court recalls that the rules of consultation provided for the award of a public service delegation are mandatory in all their provisions and that the delegating authority may not award the contract to a candidate who does not comply with these requirements, subject to strictly understood exceptions (Commune du Lavandou)

20 July 2022 57

The commune of Le Lavandou [hereinafter the "Commune"] had awarded a subcontract for the operation of a beach, informing an unsuccessful competitor [hereinafter the "Applicant"] that its bid, or rather its application, had been rejected as irregular. Pursuant to the rules of the consultation, (...)

Grégory Marson Competence: The French Administrative Supreme Court recalls that the judge of the pre-contractual summary procedure must only rule on the compliance, by the contracting authority, of the advertising and competition obligations to which the award of the contract is subject, but that he does not have to rule on the assessments made on the value of a bid or the respective merits of the different bids (Philip Frères)

18 February 2022 87

The Philip Frères company had asked the interim relief judge of the Toulouse administrative court, on the basis of article L. 551-1 of the administrative justice code, to annul the decisions relating to the awarding of the contract for the mowing and clearing of verges on the Toulouse (...)

Grégory Marson Impartiality: The French Supreme Administrative Court rules that the disregard of the principle of impartiality during a public procurement procedure constitutes a particularly serious defect (i) justifying the annulment of the contract to the exclusion of any other measure, and this without the need to identify an intention to favour a candidate, and (ii) entitling, in application of established case law, to compensation for the loss of earnings of the irregularly ousted competitor who had serious chances of obtaining the public contract (Corsica Networks / Collectivité de Corse)

25 November 2021 128

Impartiality - Conflict of interest - Compensation - Serious chance of obtaining the contract : The Conseil d’Etat indicates that the disregard of the principle of impartiality during a public procurement procedure constitutes a particularly serious defect (i) justifying the cancellation of (...)

Grégory Marson Concession contract: The French Supreme Administrative Court provides some clarification on the "Transmanche" appeal and clearly indicates that the disregard of the rules of advertising and competition is not likely, "in the absence of particular circumstances", to vitiate a concession contract with a defect of such gravity as to impede its performance (Ile de Sein Energies)

12 April 2021 209

In the case under review, the Conseil d’État was seized of an appeal against the decision of the Syndicat Départemental d’Energie et d’Equipement du Finistère (Finistère Departmental Energy and Equipment Union) to refuse the request sent to it by the company Ile de Sein Energies ["IDSE"] to (...)

Grégory Marson Umbrella effect: The French Administrative Supreme Court specifies the legal regime of the quasi-delictual liability action available to public entities against the perpetrators of anti-competitive practices carried out in connection with the awarding of public contracts (Mersen)

12 October 2020 284

As economists point out, "the fight against horizontal cartels is at the heart of any competition policy. The objective is to prevent price levels and market allocation from being the result of concerted decisions and not of impersonal market forces" (R. Guesnerie and D. Encaoua, Politiques de (...)

Grégory Marson Impartiality: The French Administrative Supreme Court and the Douai Administrative Court of Appeal state that the principle of impartiality is not violated merely because a public procurement contract is awarded to a local semi-public owned company (SEML) and point out that the violation of the principle of impartiality by a public purchaser must be assessed in light of an in concreto analysis of the award procedure (Port autonome de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Cabre)

2 April 2020 213

Readers of the review are Concurrencesaware that the Conseil d’État considers "that among the general principles of law which are binding on the contracting authority, as on any administrative authority, is the principle of impartiality, the disregard of which constitutes a failure to comply (...)

Grégory Marson Private domain: The French Ministry of Economy and Finance considers that the managing authorities of private domain must implement procedures similar to those prevailing for the public domain, in light of the Promoimpresa judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 14 July 2016 (Ministerial response)

29 January 2019 209

"Let’s make this clear" at the outset, Ministerial Reply No. 12868 of 29 January 2019 (hereinafter "the Reply") should in principle be devoid of binding effect. This absence is no longer due solely to the fact that it is a mere ministerial reply. As a result of the combined provisions of (...)

Grégory Marson Conflict of interest: The French Supreme Administrative Court and the Administrative Court of Paris specify, on the one hand, that the violation of the principle of impartiality is closely linked to the characterisation of a conflict of interest, and, on the other hand, that the processing of privileged information does not fall within the scope of this principle (SIOM ; Excelsis)

22 August 2018 144

With the French Revolution, a new figure appears in the order of symbolic representations of the administrative system, that of the "disinterested" administrator. Imperatives emerge, particularly in the field of public procurement: "disinterestedness, probity, impartiality must be the (...)

Grégory Marson Public domain : The French Supreme Administrative Court specifies the conditions in which a binding agreement to sell goods belonging in the public domain can be validly executed and indicates that a significant reduction in the scope of a concession contract constitutes a substantial change and is therefore illegal (SEMEPA)

15 November 2017 173

On 29 December 1986, the municipality of Aix-en-Provence (the ’Commune’) concluded an agreement with the Société d’Economie Mixte d’Equipement du Pays d’Aix (SEMEPA) concerning the concession for the management of the public service of off-street paid parking and the operation of seven (...)

Grégory Marson Rating methodology: The French Supreme Administrative Court points out that the judge hearing requests for precontractual interim measures cannot cancel a public procurement procedure in the field of defence procurement and that the contracting authority cannot use a rating method, which have as its effect of neutralizing the scope of criteria for the selection of applications (Techno Logistique)

24 May 2017 173

The Atelier industriel de l’aéronautique de Clermont-Ferrand (hereinafter the "Contracting Authority"), which is part of the Service industriel de l’aéronautique de Clermont-Ferrand, had launched an invitation to tender with a view to the award of a purchase order contract for the provision of (...)

Grégory Marson Objective hardships : The European Court of Justice considers that in the absence of a clause providing for the possibility to adapt, even significantly, a public procurement contract during its performance, a settlement agreement justified by the existence of objective hardship shall not be intended to result in a substantial modification of the contract (Finn Frogne)

7 September 2016 260

A public contract for the provision of a global communications system common to all emergency services of the Danish State and for its maintenance for several years (hereinafter the ’Contract’) was binding on the competent public authority and its holder. The Contract was worth approximately (...)

Grégory Marson Public tender: The French Supreme Administrative Court postpones, in view of the requirements resulting from the fundamental right of appeal, the entry into force of the Tarn-et-Garonne legal action for the foreclosed competitors and specifies the pleas in law they can raise (Syndicat mixte des transports en commun “Hérault transport”)

5 February 2016 153

By the very admission of the public rapporteur Bertrand Dacosta, contract law had become, on the threshold of the Tarn-et-Garonne decision, a veritable "maelstrom" (concl. B. Dacosta, CE, Ass., 4 April 2014, Département du Tarn-et-Garonne, RFDA, 2014, p. 425). Given the number of legal (...)

Grégory Marson Public procurement: The French Supreme Administrative Court defines the criteria for identifying a conflict of interest affecting the regularity of an award procedure for a public contract and the means to prevent the conflict (Applicam)

14 October 2015 195

Jean Guitton considered that to be in the wind is to have the fate of dead leaves. It is to be hoped that the notion of conflicts of interest, which is currently the subject of an abundant literature, will not meet such a fate (see in particular, "Les conflits d’intérêts", Pouvoirs n° 143, (...)

Grégory Marson Exclusive rights : The Court of Justice of the European Union considers that granting an exclusive right as a potential infringement of art. 106-1 TFEU combined with art. 102 (DEI)

17 July 2014 456

A Greek public company, DEI, was granted an exclusive licence to explore and exploit lignite in Greece. By decision of 5 March 2008, the Commission considered that the granting and maintenance of that exclusive right was contrary to Article 106(1) TFEU read in conjunction with Article 102 TFEU (...)