CILFIT ‘Motionless Titan’ Has Moved, albeit Softly and with Circumspection: Consorzio Italian Management II

The unwritten exceptions to the duty to refer, and most notably the so-called ‘acte clair doctrine’ forged in the well-known CILFIT case, have been the subject of much doctrinal attention and severe criticisms. Confronted with a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of Article 267(3) TFEU referred to by the Italian Consiglio di Stato in a dispute concerning public procurements of services, AG Bobek advocated a paradigm shift which was not upheld by the Grand Chamber. However, the judgment, rendered on the 39th anniversary of CILFIT, brings about three major and multifaceted add-ons to the previous case-law, concerning the ‘relevance’ criterion in relation to national procedural rules, the conditions for the application of the acte clair doctrine, and the duty to state reasons. By refining some aspects of the ‘keystone of the EU judicial system’, Consorzio Italian Management II (‘CIM II’) is a must-read judgment.