Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (repealed)Show full title

Article 53 U.K. Qualification systems

1. Contracting entities which so wish may establish and operate a system of qualification of economic operators.

Contracting entities which establish or operate a system of qualification shall ensure that economic operators are at all times able to request qualification.

2. The system under paragraph 1 may involve different qualification stages.

It shall be operated on the basis of objective criteria and rules for qualification to be established by the contracting entity.

Where those criteria and rules include technical specifications, the provisions of Article 34 shall apply. The criteria and rules may be updated as required.

3. The criteria and rules for qualification referred to in paragraph 2 may include the exclusion criteria listed in Article 45 of Directive 2004/18/EC on the terms and conditions set out therein.

Where the contracting entity is a contracting authority within the meaning of Article 2(1)(a), those criteria and rules shall include the exclusion criteria listed in Article 45(1) of Directive 2004/18/EC.

4. Where the criteria and rules for qualification referred to in paragraph 2 include requirements relating to the economic and financial capacity of the economic operator, the latter may where necessary rely on the capacity of other entities, whatever the legal nature of the link between itself and those entities. In this case the economic operator must prove to the contracting entity that these resources will be available to it throughout the period of the validity of the qualification system, for example by producing an undertaking by those entities to that effect.

Under the same conditions, a group of economic operators as referred to in Article 11 may rely on the capacity of participants in the group or of other entities.

5. Where the criteria and rules for qualification referred to in paragraph 2 include requirements relating to the technical and/or professional abilities of the economic operator, the latter may where necessary rely on the capacity of other entities, whatever the legal nature of the link between itself and those entities. In this case the economic operator must prove to the contracting entity that those resources will be available to it throughout the period of the validity of the qualification system, for example by producing an undertaking by those entities to make the necessary resources available to the economic operator.

Under the same conditions, a group of economic operators referred to in Article 11 may rely on the abilities of participants in the group or of other entities.

6. The criteria and rules for qualification referred to in paragraph 2 shall be made available to economic operators on request. The updating of these criteria and rules shall be communicated to interested economic operators.

Where a contracting entity considers that the qualification system of certain other entities or bodies meets its requirements, it shall communicate to interested economic operators the names of such other entities or bodies.

7. A written record of qualified economic operators shall be kept; it may be divided into categories according to the type of contract for which the qualification is valid.

8. When establishing or operating a qualification system, contracting entities shall in particular observe the provisions of Article 41(3) concerning notices on the existence of a system of qualification, of Article 49(3), (4) and (5) concerning the information to be delivered to economic operators having applied for qualification, of Article 51(2) concerning the selection of participants when a call for competition is made by means of a notice on the existence of a qualification system as well as the provisions of Article 52 on mutual recognition concerning administrative, technical or financial conditions, certificates, tests and evidence.

9. When a call for competition is made by means of a notice on the existence of a qualification system, tenderers in a restricted procedure or participants in a negotiated procedure shall be selected from the qualified candidates in accordance with such a system.