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Question to Arlète Tonye, a lawyer at the Bar in Val d'Oise.

What are the different aspects to be considered by a State before engaging in a PPP contract?

As the name suggests, public-private partnerships designates all forms of cooperation between public and private sectors for the design, financing, construction, and/ or operation and maintenance of public infrastructure. The achievement of large-scale works is their favorite field, international financial institutions having made an instrument of resource mobilization for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In this sense, due diligence, which are a series of audits, must speak on the four following areas:
The environment: vulnerability assessment, detection of pollution, management of materials and waste, regulatory compliance, liability and costs for non-compliance, etc.
Technical terms: sensitivity of the site infrastructure and equipment, stability and accessibility of works, proper functioning and safety of the equipment, etc.
Legal, tax and social: validity of contracts, litigation risk assessment and tax risk, measurement and management of social protest, etc.
Financial and accounting: the strength of the balance sheet of the entire operation, sustainability and financial efficiency, etc.

This intertwining of risk makes sense only if it is based on an effective security, in this case, the relevance of the mode of conflict resolution. The issue of guarantees in the PPP is even more crucial that without physical form, they proceed exclusively on the quality of the project and the volume flow through the mezzanine funding.

Under these conditions, the "weapons" our States should develop are:
- The quality of the legal framework that allows efficient execution of the contract.
- The skill and precision of their contractual advisers to avoid generic terms, important cause of litigation (clearly define the key concepts and provide mechanisms for overcoming the crisis: renegotiating, penalty clause, arbitration clause, etc.).

Does it have to be reminded that these are extremely long contracts (25-30 years on average) and as such, imbued with a high degree of uncertainty, which may suggest an adaptation to predictable economic developments independent of the involved parties?

Arbitration courts are rather revealing in terms of states, a tendency to