The recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) suggests that the Court is maintaining a functional and cohesive approach when being faced with ‘in-house’ disputes. The Court appears to line its reasoning in accordance with the overarching goal of opening up Member States public procurement markets to enhance competition between private and public operators in the delivery of public works and services contracts. The principles developed by the CJEU mandates that a contracting authority is only exempted from commencing an award procedure for a public works, supplies or service contract where it evidently exercises control over the winning tenderer, similar to that which it exercises over its own departments, with the tenderer carrying out the essential part of its activities only with the contracting authorities to which it belongs. A second exclusion from the EU Public Procurement rules is permitted where public authorities contract between themselves to provide services which can only be supported on the understanding that they are performing a service(s) (a public task) which is purely of a ‘public interest’ nature. This paper seeks to analyse the rulings of the CJEU and examine its approach towards ‘in-house’ arrangements. While, the forthcoming Public Procurement Directive offers legal certainty it also raises potential uncertainties with regards to the exemption; however, it is likely that in the near future the CJEU will keep business as usual and follow functional approach on a case-by-case basis.