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After the Sporting Exchange and Ernst Engelmann rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 2010, it is now entirely clear that the process of granting exclusive rights to undertakings must be conducted in compliance with the Treaty rules on free movement, particularly in accordance with the consequent principles of non--�]discrimination, equal treatment and transparency, irrespective of whether the right is awarded by means of a public contract or by other legal means (public or private).
Thus, even if public authorities wish to exclude competition in a given market due to justified reasons, and are authorized by EU law to do so, they must nonetheless ensure a sufficient degree of competition for that market so as to ensure an undistorted rivalry of the various market operators at the stage of application for that right.
It is submitted that the public authorities granting exclusive rights should not complain about the requirements that are imposed upon them by the TFEU rules.
After all, by granting exclusive rights within competitive and transparent procedures, the public authorities have an excellent chance to select, from among the many potentially interested operators�\ including those from other Member States�\ beneficiaries that will best serve the needs of the relevant community.
In turn, if they want to depart from those requirements, they must substantiate the existence of a clearly defined public interest that is capable of outweighing the benefits resulting from a competitive and transparent procedure
