A Dutch District Court holds that the award of parking management contracts in a cross-border region does not have automatically an effect on intra Community trade (P1 Holding)

Case 1. On 22 November 2002, the Municipality of Maastricht has awarded directly, i.e., without any public tender procedure a contract to the undertaking Q-Park for the renovation and operation of several parking lots for a period of 30 years. P1, one of Q-Park's competitors, challenged the award of the contract before the civil section of the Maastricht Court (Rechtbank Maastricht) on the basis of EC public procurement and state aid rules and requested that any further contracts to be awarded in the future would be awarded in compliance with the said rules. 2. With respect to the parking contract already concluded, the Court refused to follow the argument of the Municipality of Maastricht that their award was a regular “real estate” transaction. It held the direct award of the said