Public Procurement Law and Health care: From Theory to Practice. Research Paper in Law, 2/2010

From the Introduction. This contribution will focus on the core question if, how and to what extent the EU procurement rules and principles (may) affect the national health care systems. We start our analysis by summarizing the applicable EU public procurement legislation, principles and soft law and its exact scope in relation to health care. (section 2). Subsequently, we turn to the parties in a contract, subject to procurement rules in the field of health care, addressing both the definition of contracting authorities and relevant case law (section 3). This will then lead to an analysis of possible justifications for not holding a tender procedure in the field of health care (section 4). Finally, we illustrate the impact of EU public procurement rules on health care by analysing a Dutch case study, in which the question whether public hospitals in the Netherlands qualify as contracting authorities in terms of the Public Sector Directive stood central (section 5). Our conclusions will follow in section 6.

Mixed Public-Private Enterprises in Europe: Economic Theory and an Empirical Analysis of Italian Water Utilities. Bruges European Economic Research (BEER) Papers 4/July 2006

Mixed enterprises, which are entities jointly owned by the public and private sector, are spreading all over Europe in local utilities. Well aware that in the vast majority of cases the preference of local authorities towards such governance structure is determined by practical reasons rather than by the ambition to implement new regulatory designs (an alternative to the typical “external” regulation), our purpose is to confer some scientific value to this phenomenon which has not been sufficiently investigated in the economic literature. This paper aims at proposing an economic analysis of mixed enterprises, especially of the specific configuration in which the public partner acts as controller and the private one (or “industrial” partner) as service provider. We suggest that the public service concession to mixed enterprises could embody, under certain conditions, a noteworthy substitute to the traditional public provision and the concession to totally private enterprises, as it can push regulated operators to outperform and limit the risk of private opportunism. The starting point of the entire analysis is that ownership allows the (public) owner to gather more information about the actual management of the firm, according to property rights theory. Following this stream of research, we conclude that under certain conditions mixed enterprises could significantly reduce asymmetric information between regulators and regulated firms by implementing a sort of “internal” regulation. With more information, in effect, the public authority (as owner/controller of the regulated firm, but also as member of the regulatory agency) can stimulate the private operator to be more efficient and can monitor it more effectively with respect to the fulfilment of contractual obligations (i.e., public service obligations, quality standards, etc.). Moreover, concerning the latter function, the board of directors of the mixed enterprise can be the suitable place where public and private representatives (respectively, welfare and profit maximisers) can meet to solve all disputes arising from incomplete contracts, without recourse to third parties. Finally, taking into account that a disproportionate public intervention in the “private” administration (or an ineffective protection of the general interest) would imply too many drawbacks, we draw some policy implications that make an equitable debate on the board of the firm feasible. Some empirical evidence is taken from the Italian water sector.

Les oeuvres d'art et le droit ...

First issued as a thesis (Lyon, Faculte de droit, 1899/1900. 477 p.)

Art d'arriver au vrai : philosophie pratique /

Mode of access: Internet.

L'aria ancienne : Ida Isori et son art du bel-canto /

Preface dated Sept. 1913.

Leadless decorative tiles, faience, and mosaic, comprising notes and excerpts on the history, materials, manufacture & use of ornamental flooring tiles, ceramic mosaic, and decorative tiles and faience, with complete series of recipes for tile-bodies, and for leadless glazes and art-tile enamels,

Mode of access: Internet.

Préliminaires d'art civique, mis en relation avec le "Cas clinique" de la Belgique.

"Pour la reconstruction des villes de localités détruites ou endommagées en Belgique": p. [167]-298 (with special t.-p.)

Un siècle d'art : notes sur la peinture française à l'Exposition centennale des beaux-arts : suivies du catalogue complet des œuvres exposées /

Mode of access: Internet.

A complete treatise on the art of retouching photographic negatives and clear directions how to finish & colour photographs.

Mode of access: Internet.

Le Palais de Justice de Poitiers : étude sur l'art français au XIVe et au XVe siec̀les /

Mode of access: Internet.

A history of American art,

v. 1. American art before 1828. Our landscape painters. The old school.--v. 2. American sculpture. The graphic arts. American art in Europe. Latest phases.

Les antiquités, les tableaux et les objets d'art de la collection Alfred Ritleng à Strasbourg /

The collection was sold May 14, 1906 at an auction held at Château des Rohan in Strassburg.

A guide in the National Museum of Naples : and its principal monumentes [sic], illustrated.

Mode of access: Internet.

Offizieller Führer durch das Schweizerische Landesmuseum in Zürich /

Mode of access: Internet.

Essai sur le génie dans l'art /

Mode of access: Internet.