Gleiss Lutz has successfully represented an international consortium of bidders led by the KENUP Foundation in a dispute with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) before the European General Court (Case T-76/15).
The EIT is an EU institution based in Budapest tasked with increasing innovation in Europe. It grants large-volume subsidies, for which it appoints Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) based on complex bidding procedures.
In 2014 the EIT designated a competing consortium as KIC in the healthcare sector, rejecting the proposal submitted by the KENUP consortium. KENUP challenged this decision - regarding subsidies of over half a billion euros - before the EGC on the grounds that its application had not been sufficiently considered.
In a remarkably brief judgment the EGC followed Gleiss Lutz's line of argument, annulling the EIT's decision from 2014. In its landmark ruling the Court found that the EIT had failed to comply with the proper evaluation process, as it largely based its assessment of proposals on that of external experts. The ruling marks a decisive improvement in legal protection for unsuccessful bidders.
The case was handled by Ulrich Soltész (lead, partner, EU law and state aid) and Harald Weiß (EU law and state aid, both Brussels). Gleiss Lutz has been extensively involved in EU state aid and general EU law matters for many years.
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