Waselius successfully represented Ascensia Diabetes Care Finland Oy in public procurement litigation before the Supreme Administrative Court (“SAC”) against Roche Diagnostics Oy (“Roche”) and the Federation of Municipalities of the Eastern Savonia Hospital District (the “contracting authority”). The SAC ruled in favor of our client in a decision, which constitutes a legal precedent, i.e. is considered to have relevance for the application of law in identical or similar cases or is otherwise of public interest.
The matter concerned a procurement by the contracting authority valued at approximately EUR 1,2 million where the mandatory requirements of the request for tenders had been altered contrary to EU law, and in particular the judgment by the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) in case C-298/15 “Borta”. Our client challenged the procurement in the Market Court, as a result of which the Market Court annulled the procurement decision and ordered the contracting authority to arrange a new tender process. Roche applied for leave to appeal against the Market Court’s decision. The SAC granted the leave to appeal but rejected Roche’s complaint in its entirety. The SAC, accordingly, upheld the Market Court’s interpretation of the Borta-case in accordance with our claims and arguments.
In the case at hand, the parties had widely differing interpretations of the implications of the Borta-judgment and the applicability of the ECJ’s reasoning to the specific facts of the case. The decision of the SAC is important, since it reinforces the EU law position set out in the Borta-judgment, which has been subject to various interpretations in national decisional practice.
Established in 2016 through the acquisition of Bayer Diabetes Care by PHC Holdings (formerly known as Panasonic Healthcare Holdings), Ascensia Diabetes Care is a global company dedicated to improving the health and lives of people with diabetes.