This Practice note considers the definition of a public concession (works and services) and when it will be appropriate to use one. It also looks at how the procurement regime applies to concessions (including a review of the European Commmission's interpretative communication on concession agreements).

This note considers the regime that applies to procurements that started and contracts that commenced before the Concessions Contracts Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/273) (CCR 2016) came into force on 18 April 2016. For details of the CCR 2016, see Practice note, Concessions Contracts Regulations 2016: procuring concessions contracts.