Nuclear Fuel Purchases under Community Legislation: a Quest through Exceptions

Directive 2004/17/EC, which superseded Council Directive 93/38/EEC, provides for rules derogatory to the directives for public procurement, adapted to utilities, especially in the energy sector. Yet, because of its specificity, fuel procurement aiming at energy production, including nuclear fuel, has been excluded from this special regime from the very beginning. Hence, nuclear fuel purchases fall within the scope of Article 26 (b), or other exceptions provided for in the same directive, or are subject to other ‘special law’ as the Euratom rules. This article proposes a brief analysis of the substantive law applicable to nuclear fuel contracts, together with a typology of the relevant procedures, and a quest for alternatives, in case the current derogatory regime should be challenged again.