Oberthur Technologies Succeeds with Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek

German Bundesbank may have its Euro banknotes printed abroad. The Federal Printing Office had unsuccessfully brought a complaint against the award of a large contract for 2011 before the award chamber of the Federal government. Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court now approved the conclusion of the contract in final manner in the second instance.

Assisted by Dr. Ute Jasper and Daniel Soudry, LL.M. of law firm Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, banknote printer Oberthur Technologies, a traditional family-owned French company, was able to secure the second largest tranche of the printing contract. "The decision of the Higher Regional court is welcome, for it encourages competition in a previously walled-off market," comments Dr. Ute Jasper. In fact, in recent decades Bundesbank had always commissioned the same printing houses. The Federal Printing Office, which for the first time went away empty-handed, unsuccessfully challenged the current contract award before the award chamber of the Federal government with a request for review. Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court of also saw no prospects for success of the appeal filed against the decision and approved the awarding of the contract since Bundesbank had carried out a faultless award procedure.
   
With the European-wide request for bids for its print jobs since 2008, Bundesbank complies with a statutory obligation. Most likely, this procedure will become the rule in the procurement of banknotes from 2012. From then on, all national central banks participating in the standard bidding procedure of the Euro system will be obligated to do so. It is expected that competition will then increase further - with a positive impact on costs.

2. Federal Award Chamber - PHeuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek – Dr. Ute Jasper (Partner), Daniel Soudry, LL.M. (Associate)