Monitoring and reporting in transport infrastructures and services’ concessions: the State’s role as controller of the concessionaire’s performance and the need of flexibility of the concession contract. Best practices and critical aspects from an administrative and

Abstract

In recent years, many efforts have been made for favoring public and private investments in infrastructures and strategic services in order to update infrastructures and improve services without excessive financial outlay. However, the efficient development of ports, airports and motorways largely depends on an effective monitoring by the competent authorities and on an appropriate consideration of all the administrative steps required, both at national and local level. More clarity is required about identification of authorities or entities in charge of monitoring and reporting activities during the concession, by identifying the monitoring and control procedures that the public authorities should carry out during the concession and providing them with the appropriate administrative and technical instruments in order to verify the correct fulfillment by the concessionaire of the activities entrusted by means of the public concession. Moreover the granting body (or other competent public body) should be given the appropriate legal and technical instruments necessary to adapt the obligations of the concessionaire to the (new) public interests arising from the concession's award, and that, of course, could not be considered at the moment of the drafting of the concession contract. In this perspective, a certain degree of flexibility should be given to the concession relationship.This PRIN is an ambitious project aimed to identify – through an interdisciplinary (legal and technical) approach – the best practices and to develop new measures to control and monitor the activity of the concessionaires of port terminals, airports and motorways. In particular, guidelines will be proposed for concession granting bodies, via a comparative analysis of the models adopted in EU Member States to verify the monitoring compliance systems and the sanctions applicable to concessionaire, potential mechanisms of incentives and penalties.