The multilevel legal regime of public service concessions

Public service concession is a fundamental legal institute to understand the evolution of the relationship between public powers and private autonomies and, at the same time, to analyze the issue of public/private divide in Administrative Law. Starting from a critical examination of the main tendencies of the present judicial decisions and legal science, this work aims to shed light on some uncertainties related to the traditional idea of concession as a “public law” tool: particular attention is paid to execution of concession contracts and judicial review. After having analyzed the legal arguments on which the traditional definition of concessions as “public law” instrument is based (such as the issue of “public object” and the presence of the so called “clauses exorbitantes du droit commun”), the work tries to demonstrate – also underlining the significant changes brought about by EU law in the field of public contracts and on the very definition of public service – the possibility to conceive public service concession as a private instrument, without prejudice to public interest and, consequently, to public service principles.