Poste Italiane is a public company. This was reaffirmed by the Court of Justice of the European Union through the sentence of 28 October 2020, according to which the company led by Matteo Del Fante "has the quality of a public company and not a body governed by public law".
The case arises from an appeal presented to the administrative justice against a call for tenders issued by Poste Italiane in the context of concierge services, reception, garrisons in the Italian Post Offices. The appellant claimed that the company had violated the public procurement code. Poste Italiane, for its part, replied that these rules are not applicable because the group is not a public body.
The Court of Justice of the European Union, with today's ruling, established that Poste Italiane has the status of a public company and not a body governed by public law. The judges of Strasbourg therefore have accepted the thesis of Poste Italiane ruling on a preliminary question referred by the national judge (the Lazio Regional Administrative Court) relating to the legal nature of the company and, in detail, whether the company should be considered a body governed by public law for the purposes of applying the public procurement code.
The EU Court confirmed the nature of Poste Italiane as a public enterprise, since it is a company that operates under normal market conditions, which aims to make profits and bears the losses resulting from the exercise of its activities. By virtue of these characteristics, the company cannot be classified as a body governed by public law.
