1. Inter-communal cooperation Anna Eklund Legal adviser Legal Affairs Section Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions Phone +46-8-452 75 52 E-mail: anna.eklund@skl.se

2. Inter-communal cooperation • Two groups of inter-communal cooperation: one group pertaining to civil law one group pertaining to public law • The group pertaining to civil law: - joint stock company, non-profit organizations, foundation, associations which operate for the economic benefit of it members and registered partnerships • The joint stock company is the most frequent used form - used when there are no provisions on how the task is to be performed - exercise of public authority only if special provisions

3. (cont.) Inter-communal cooperation • The group pertaining to public law: joint local government committee statutory joint authority • Joint local government committee - a new committee is formed in one of the participating local authorities - is assigned one or several tasks but each local authority keep their overall responsibility - no own legal existence • Statutory joint authority - local government body - own legal existence - one or several tasks from its members and has the overall responsibility - the members contribute to its activities

4. Legal obstacles • Public procurement regulation and how the Teckal-case (C-107/98) has been interpreted by Swedish courts • The criteria set up in the Teckal-case should be fulfilled when it comes to joint-stock company that is owned solely or together with other local authorities • Interpretation of the Teckal-case differs between member states – unsatisfactory! • Joint local government committee and statutory joint authority and public procurement has not yet been tried in Swedish courts • We consider the criteria in the Teckal-case should be fulfilled in both forms of inter-communal cooperation