31It should be added that those criteria must, as can be seen from recital 90 of that directive and Article 67(4) thereof, ensure compliance with the principles of transparency, non-discrimination and equal treatment, so as to guarantee an objective comparison of the relative merits of the tenders and, accordingly, effective competition. That would not be the case for criteria having the effect of conferring on the contracting authority an unrestricted freedom of choice (see, by analogy, as regards Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts (OJ 2004 L 134, p. 114), judgment of 10 May 2012, Commission v Netherlands, C‑368/10, EU:C:2012:284, paragraph 87).
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