South Africa has performed poorly in delivering broadband to its citizens, with very limited access and little effort to boost its adoption. It compares badly to the BRICs and to other comparable nations, while having lost its position as African leader. The African National Congress (ANC)...

This paper is a contribution to the 2nd edition of Craig and de Búrca, The Evolution of EU Law. It highlights key trends in EU law in the last ten to fifteen years, as regards the regulation of network industries and of services of general economic interest (SGEIs) more generally. Our central...

In its BUPA Case of February 2008 the Court of First Instance set a new standard for assessing whether public service compensation constitutes a state aid and/or is covered by the exception for services of general economic interest. At issue was risk equalisation between providers of private...

The free public services doctrine (also known as the municipal cost recovery rule) states that a government entity may not recover from a tortfeasor the costs of public services occasioned by the tortfeasor's wrongdoing. This article traces the history of the doctrine and argues for its...

Public services must play a very important part in the local public administration of Romania and of all the other European states, in the light of the significant effects they have on the economic, administrative, social and political sphere. The present paper focuses on emphasizing the need to...

In the recent judgments rendered in the RAS v European Commission and Saremar v European Commission cases the General Court of the EU has considered the compatibility of compensation payment granted to provider of public service tasks with the State aid rules. Crucially, in order to comply with...

National interest, also as a critisism against the pradigm of New Public Management (NPM), is very much emphasised nowadays in public policies, even in sector ones. This article is about a removal from the classical meaning of general (public) interest to that new approach represented by certain...

There is a popular perception that a culture of bureaucracy in the public sector is pervasive. Public servants have a reputation for being too preoccupied with following a strict interpretation of the rules to worry about satisfying the consumers that rely on their services. Many would consider...

This article examines recent developments in human services contracting in New York City that, while using elements of the marketplace model, place greater focus on the core public service goals of serving communities most in need with quality and cost-effective programs. It focuses on the goals...

Advantage is one of the four cumulative criteria that determine whether the EU state aid regime is applicable. Here we look at advantage in relation to compensation for public service obligations. In its Altmark ruling of 2003 the CJEU has fashioned a four part test that, if met, means that the...