The Guide is aimed mainly at public sector PPP stakeholders, and in particular PPP practitioners (i.e. authorities in charge of PPP policy, decision-making and the preparation and procurement of PPP projects). It is intended to improve their understanding of how the Rules should be applied to PPPs. It explains how the features of typical PPP contract provisions (i.e. those that reflect general market practice in the EU jurisdictions) are relevant to the application of the Rules, and therefore whether they influence the statistical treatment of a PPP as on or off the balance sheet of government