European Union – Public procurement. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that where the contractor under a public contract was a non-profit association which, at the time of the award of the contract, had as partners not only public sector entities but also private social solidarity institutions carrying out non-profit activities, the requirement for 'similar control', established by the case-law of the Court in order that the award of a public contract could be regarded as an in-house operation, was not met, so that Directive (EC) 2004/18 of the European Parliament and of the Council (on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts) applied.