**5. Conclusions**

The law on public contracts has undergone a significant metamorphosis with the introduction of the principle and rules of free competition, sanctioned by the EC Treaty and by community law introduced into Italian law, most recently, with the Public Contract Code.

**Author details**

Ida D'Ambrosio

**References**

Economic Law, Benevento, Italy

ardour and constancy"

e Impresa. 1997. p. 2

Address all correspondence to: i.dambrosio@unifortunato.eu

[1] *Le Garzantine: Economia*. Garzanti Editore. 2011. p. 316

[2] See [1]. *Le Garzantine: Economia*. Garzanti Editore. 2011. p. 316

than a distant punishment that each one can hope to avoid"

[6] See [1]. *Le Garzantine: Economia*, Garzanti Editore. 2011. p. 316

US government to limit the monopolies and the cartels

[3] To this regard Adam Smith in *The Wealth of Nations* wrote: "Pure competition means remuneration for those who supply the best goods at the lowest price. It offers an immediate and natural reward that a crowd of rivals struggle to obtain, and it is more effective

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[4] According to a maxim of Jeremy Bentham, "Generally no one knows your interests better than you know them yourselves, and no one is willing to pursue them with equal

[5] The most profound criticisms were developed above all by Joseph Schumpeter and John Maynard Keynes. They doubted that perfect competition could be achieved in practice,

[7] Silva F. Regole dell'efficienza e politica Antitrust. LIUC Papers No. 48 Series. Economica

[8] It is the oldest antitrust law of the United States, and it represents the first action of the

[9] The Clayton Act introduced a greater control of concentration operations, introducing a ban on mergers by the purchase of assets or shares. The discriminating element of the Clayton Act consists of the greater rigidity of the criterion of legality of the "rule of reason" compared to the criterion of the Sherman Act, which refers to an assessment of the probable effect of any agreement or practice deemed as being restrictive to competition

[10] In 1951 the important Treaty of Paris was signed, establishing the first community organisation, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), with the aim of introducing the free circulation of coal and steel and of guaranteeing free access to the production sources. This agreement paved the way for the drafting, a few years later, in 1957, of the Treaty of Rome which established the European Economic Community (EEC). The important abolition of custom duties was expected to favour trade between the member

even sustaining, instead, that it was an infeasible and purely utopian ideal

The "public evidence" procedures for the awarding of work, service and supply contracts no longer protect only the public, financial and administrative interests of the awarding bodies and do not only exclusively answer the principle of legality, but are aimed at guaranteeing the free circulation of goods and services on the domestic market and free competition at the European level.

The guarantee of a free market ensures the satisfaction of the public interest on both the financial and the administrative fronts, because effective competition limits prices and favours quality, since it can reward not only the less demanding contracting party but also the "fair" contracting party.

At the same time, the guarantee of a free market better satisfies the expectations and rights of the companies which, in the absence of effective competition, would risk suffering discrimination.

The logic of free competition at the European level requires the countries to have, as far as possible, the same laws to this regard. The said discipline in the Italian legal system is entrusted to the state in its capacity as legislator, to which the "protection of competition" is exclusively entrusted. This means that national law plays a very important role with regard to the essential legal features of public contracts.

Furthermore, the logic of competition brings with it an increase in the tools for guarantee available to the companies interested in the free market. This is the context of the Code, and in the light of this context, it must be interpreted and implemented.

In administrative law cases, public evidence procedures reinforce the remedies against discrimination, to the prejudice of the companies that are "new entries", exercised by the contract-awarding bodies. The Public Contract Code places additional obligations on the contract-awarding bodies in order to ensure authentic equality of treatment also in new negotiating procedures, such as competitive dialogue. The authority's role is consolidated in sector supervision, which monitors, among other things, the correctness of the competitive procedures by means of a wide range of powers. Therefore, free competition reinforces the principle of legality.

At the same time, the antitrust remedies in favour of companies excluded or prejudice by the illegal behaviour of competitors are reinforced: there are an increasing number of cases in which the antitrust authority punishes restrictive agreements entered into by competitors in the execution of public tender procedures for the awarding of contracts.

In short, the logic of competition and the European free market has a duel value in the case of tender contracts: it more effectively contrasts the excesses of the powers of both national and local public bodies which operate as contract-awarding bodies and of the powers of the entrepreneurs that continue to stand in opposition.
