Winning a suspension is only half the job: fail to file an annulment action within three months and your suspension vanishes
After Telecom Integrated Technologies NV obtained the suspension of the award to Hanssens Telecom for the Aalter telephony contract in July 2022, it never filed the required annulment action; on 5 May 2023 the Council automatically lifts the suspension — even though the municipality had already withdrawn the decision itself.
What happened?
On 16 May 2022 Aalter's municipal executive awarded the contract 'Supply, install and maintain a new telephony solution' (specification 281.03-21d0224) to Hanssens Telecom for up to 258,940 euros incl. VAT, subject to visa approval. Telecom Integrated Technologies NV — a competitor from Eeklo — filed an extreme-urgency suspension action on 16 June 2022 and won a suspension on 8 July 2022 in ruling 254,264. A classic scenario: a local authority made an award, a rival IT firm successfully challenged it, and procurement was frozen. Then came something that often happens and rarely ends well: on 18 July 2022 Aalter's executive decided to withdraw the contested decision and halt the procurement procedure, communicating this via letter of 29 July 2022. But Telecom Integrated Technologies did not take the logical next step. Article 17, § 4, third paragraph of the coordinated laws on the Council of State is unambiguous: anyone who has won an extreme-urgency suspension and then fails to file an annulment request (within three months after the suspension ruling) loses the suspension ipso jure. Almost ten months passed. On 1 March 2023 President Paul Lemmens proposed to handle the case without hearing; no party requested one. Debates closed on 25 April 2023, and on 5 May 2023 the ruling came: suspension of ruling 254,264 is lifted. That sounds like a defeat for TIT, but thanks to the intermediate withdrawal the substantive battle was already won. Costs go to Aalter: 200 euros filing fee, 22 euros contribution, 700 euros procedural indemnity — 922 euros total.
Why does this matter?
The lesson is clear for anyone winning an extreme-urgency suspension: the suspension is an interim measure, not a final ruling. Article 17, § 4, third paragraph makes it a possession you must actively preserve by filing a full annulment request within three months. Fail, and your suspension is automatically lifted. In this case the absence of consequences was only due to the authority's own withdrawal — had Aalter waited, the lift on 5 May 2023 would have revived the award to Hanssens Telecom with no safety net. This is a common strategic error: the extreme-urgency procedure consumes all legal energy, and after a successful suspension the file falls asleep. For local authority legal teams the ruling is a useful reminder: if the opposing party lets the annulment deadline slip, you have a procedural exit — subject to cost recovery.
The lesson
If you have won an extreme-urgency suspension: immediately diarise the three-month annulment deadline. Even if the contracting authority withdraws in the meantime, it is safer to file the annulment request anyway — that preserves the suspension as an interim measure and protects you if the withdrawal is later challenged or recycled. If you prefer not to file, formally discontinue the action so the Council does not lift the suspension in a ruling that reads as a defeat.
Ask yourself
Have you won an extreme-urgency suspension in the past twelve months? Check immediately: (a) have you filed an annulment request within three months, (b) if not, have you formally discontinued, and (c) in any event, have you explicitly claimed costs in all your pleadings, so that on lift or discontinuance the authority still bears the bill.
About this database
The Council of State (Raad van State / Conseil d'État) is Belgium's supreme administrative court. In disputes over public procurement — from contract awards to tenderer exclusions — the Council of State is the final arbiter. The rulings in this database are summarised by TenderWolf in plain language, with practical lessons for tenderers and contracting authorities. View all rulings →