In a new case lodged at the Markkinaoikeus (Market Court of Finland), an arms manufacturer in Germany 🇩🇪 (Heckler & Koch USA) has claimed that Finland 🇫🇮 (and Sweden 🇸🇪) have breached both national law and EU law by acquiring weapons directly from SAKO Ltd, a Finnish company 🇫🇮 wholly owned by BERETTA, an Italian company 🇮🇹, without a call for tenders.
Finland 🇫🇮 is arguing that it is relying on a security exception.
The company, on the other hand, argues that it is a breach of the Defence Procurement Directive (2009/81).
Both the company and the Member State have, in theory, good arguments. But the case will fall on whether this precise direct procurement of arms, which appears broad, actually falls within the narrow confines of a security exception.
The background has been chronicled by Anne Kauranen in Reuters at the following link: https://lnkd.in/eJJH_Zcu
The case could be quite substantive given the possibility of a reference for a preliminary ruling, and the limited amount of jurisprudence from the Court of Justice of the European Union to date.
Note the factual backdrop of the continued aggression of Ukrainian territory by Russia, and Finland’s recent accession to NATO, will play into the proportionality analysis.
Graham Butler