Market Court Decisions in Public Procurement

The Market Court (markkinaoikeus) is a Finnish special court that hears public procurement cases alongside competition and supervision matters, market law cases, and intellectual property disputes. Procurement cases — appeals under the Public Procurement Act (1397/2016) and the Utilities Procurement Act — form its largest case group.

In a procurement case, the Market Court examines whether the contracting authority acted contrary to procurement legislation, for example in drafting the call for tenders, assessing bidder suitability, comparing tenders, or reasoning the award decision. An appeal may be lodged by a party concerned — in practice, most often a bidder that lost the competition.

The Market Court publishes its decisions on its website, from where they are transferred permanently to the Finlex case-law database. When citing decisions, use the Finlex link, as decisions are eventually removed from the court's own website.

The amendments to the Procurement Act entered into force on 18 June 2026. How the reform is interpreted — for instance the new in-house entity rules and the raised national thresholds — will take shape in Market Court case law over the coming years, which makes following new decisions particularly relevant right now.

An appeal to the Market Court must generally be lodged within 14 days of the bidder receiving the award decision with appeal instructions (Procurement Act, section 147). If the contracting authority concluded the contract without observing the standstill period, the appeal period is 30 days from notification.

In procurements exceeding the EU threshold, the contracting authority must wait at least 14 days from notification of the award decision before concluding the contract (standstill period, section 129). If the case is brought before the Market Court, the authority may not conclude the contract until the case is resolved (automatic suspension, section 150) — although the court may permit the conclusion of the contract on application, and the procurement can be organised through temporary arrangements during the proceedings.

Alongside or instead of an appeal, a bidder may demand a procurement rectification (hankintaoikaisu) directly from the contracting authority (sections 132–135). Rectification is free of charge and subject to the same 14-day deadline. However, a rectification demand does not extend the deadline for appealing to the Market Court, so the two remedies should be used in parallel.

The court fee in a procurement case is €2,440. If the value of the procurement is at least €1 million, the fee is €4,880, and at least €10 million, €7,300. For private individuals the fee is €610. The fees are laid down in the Court Fees Act (1455/2015) and a Ministry of Justice decree (1022/2024). In addition, the losing party may be ordered to pay the opposing party's legal costs — in practice a significantly larger financial risk than the fee itself.

The remedies available to the Market Court are set out in section 154 of the Procurement Act. The primary remedies are so-called real remedies, available when the procurement contract has not yet been concluded: the court may annul the award decision in whole or in part, prohibit the contracting authority from applying an unlawful clause, or order it to correct its unlawful procedure.

If the contract has already been concluded and real remedies are no longer available, the court may order the contracting authority to pay a compensation payment (hyvitysmaksu) to a bidder that would have had a real chance of winning in a flawless procedure (section 155). Without special reason, the compensation may not exceed ten per cent of the value of the contract.

In the most serious situations — such as an illegal direct award, or a contract concluded in breach of the standstill period or the automatic suspension — the court may declare the contract ineffective (section 156). Alongside or instead of ineffectiveness, the court may impose a penalty payment to the state of up to ten per cent of the contract value, or shorten the contract period. These remedies are available in procurements exceeding the EU threshold, and in social, health and other specific service procurements exceeding the national threshold.