Joint offer : The French Competition Authority rules that an incumbent public transport operator does not commit an abuse by organising a selection procedure in order to find a partner with a view to submitting a joint offer in response to a public tender: objective competitive advantage of the incumbent and specification of the tender procedure may be justifications for such conduct (RTM-Veolia)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. – Aut. conc. dec. n° 09-D-18 of 2 June 2009 relating to the practices implemented on the occasion of the constitution of the RTM-Veolia temporary grouping of companies with a view to its candidacy for the CUMPM public service delegation for the operation of the tramway network of the city of Marseille. The Marseilles tramway affair is at first glance rather curious. Indeed, it was a trade union (SNTU-CGT) which had referred the matter to the Competition Authority. This circumstance is quite rare, but is not surprising in itself - it is, moreover, provided for in Articles L. 462-1 and L. 462-5 C. Com... What is surprising on reading the decision is rather