European Union – Public procurement. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that arts 47(2) and 48(3) of Directive (EC) 2004/18 should be interpreted as meaning that they precluded a contracting authority, in the tender specifications relating to the award of a public contract, from imposing on a tenderer which relied on the capacities of other entities the obligation, before the contract was awarded, to conclude a co-operation agreement with those entities or to form a partnership with them.