European Court of Justice Excludes Instituto Cervantes from Tender Due to Formal Error in Submission

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has dismissed the appeals filed by Instituto Cervantes and the Kingdom of Spain against a previous ruling that had already rejected their challenge to a European tender. The decision confirms that the European Commission acted correctly by not evaluating part of Cervantes' offer, which was submitted via external links, resulting in the institution finishing second in the competition to provide Spanish courses to European officials.

The controversy dates back to a call for linguistic training for EU institutions. Instituto Cervantes included in its proposal some documents accessible only through hyperlinks, outside the official eSubmission electronic procurement platform. The Commission did not assess this part of the offer, considering that the documents did not comply with the terms and conditions and posed a risk of being altered after the submission deadline.

Instituto Cervantes appealed the decision, but the General Court of the EU had already ruled against it in the first instance. The institution, supported by the Spanish Government, then filed an appeal with the ECJ, citing defects in the reasoning of the judgment, violation of the principle of legal certainty, and lack of impartiality. They also argued that they should have been allowed to prove that the linked documents had not been altered.

However, the ECJ has dismissed all arguments and confirmed that submitting documents outside the established channel constitutes a formal breach sufficient to justify their exclusion. The ruling, which is final, thus upholds the Commission's decision and definitively closes the litigation.

This ruling sets a clear precedent in EU public procurement procedures: any content not correctly submitted within the official deadlines and channels may be automatically excluded from evaluation, even if it affects offers that score well in other criteria.