Telefónica de España, SA v European Commission.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2022:598
• Date: 22 July 2022
• Docket Number: C-478/22
• Celex Number: 62022CO0478
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)

ORDER OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COURT

22 July 2022 (*)

(Interim relief – Articles 278 and 279 TFEU – Appeal – Application for suspension of operation and other interim measures – Public procurement – Article 160(7) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice)

In Case C‑478/22 P(R)‑R,

APPLICATION for suspension of operation and other interim measures under Articles 278 and 279 TFEU, brought on 17 July 2022,

Telefónica de España SAU, established in Madrid (Spain), represented by J. Blanco Carol and F. González Díaz, abogados, and P. Stuart, Barrister,

applicant,

the other party to the proceedings being:

European Commission,

defendant at first instance,

THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COURT,

after hearing the Advocate General, M. Szpunar,

makes the following

Order

1 By its application for interim measures, Telefónica de España SAU claims, pursuant to Articles 278 and 279 TFEU and Article 160(7) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, that the Court of Justice should:

– order the suspension of operation of the order of the President of the General Court of the European Union of 14 July 2022, Telefónica de España v Commission (T‑170/22 R, not published, EU:T:2022:460; ‘the order under appeal’), by which the General Court dismissed its application seeking, first, suspension of the operation of the decision of the European Commission of 21 January 2022 relating to the call for tenders DIGIT/A 3/PR/2019/010, entitled ‘Trans-European Services for Telematics between Administrations (TESTA)’, informing the applicant that its tender had not been successful in the procurement procedure and announcing the imminent signing of a contract with the successful tenderer (‘the contested decision’) and, secondly, an order requiring the European Commission to suspend the signing of that contract;

– order the Commission to suspend the award of contracts in the call for tenders DIGIT/A 3/PR/2019/010 pending a ruling from the General Court in Case T‑170/22;

– order the Commission to suspend the signing of a contract in that call for tenders;

– grant any other appropriate interim measures; and

– order the Commission to pay the costs.

2 That application has been made at the same time as Telefónica de España brought an appeal on 17 July 2022, pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 57 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, seeking to have the order under appeal set aside.

3 Under Article 160(7) of the Rules of Procedure, which is applicable to the procedure on appeal pursuant to Article 190(1) of those rules, the judge hearing an application for interim measures may grant that application even before the observations of the opposite party have been submitted, and that decision may be varied or cancelled even without any application being made by any party.

4 In accordance with the Court’s case-law, in particular where it is desirable in the...