The priorities of EU public procurement regulation
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The priorities of EU public procurement regulation Christopher Bovis1
© Europäische Rechtsakademie (ERA) 2020
Abstract The reform agenda of public procurement is guided by doctrines developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union which attempt to fuse the underlying principles of public procurement regulation with the fundamental principles enshrined in the EU Treaties. Primary EU law supplements wherever needed the deficiencies of the public procurement Directives. The CJEU’s jurisprudence has been instrumental in developing the policy and the concepts of the public procurement acquis and in providing for flexibility, clarity and certainty to its decentralised application and enforcement. Public procurement represents an instrument for growth and competitiveness for the EU and its Member States. Keywords Public procurement · Strategy · Sustainability · Reforms · Transparency · Competitiveness · Flexibility
1 Introduction The European institutions through the enactment of the Single Market Act1 have identified public procurement as an essential component of competitiveness and growth2 and as an indispensable instrument of delivering public services.3 1 European Commission, Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and So-
cial Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Towards a Single Market Act, COM (2010) 608 final. 2 European Commission, Communication, Europe 2020, A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive
growth, 3.3.2010, COM (2010) 2020 final. 3 European Commission, Guide to the application of the European Union rules on state aid, public procure-
ment and the internal market to services of general economic interest, and in particular to social services
B C. Bovis 1
FRSA, University of Hull, Hull, England, UK
C. Bovis
A liberalised and integrated public procurement is an essential component of the Single Market in the EU.4 The origins of the regulation of public procurement in the European Union derive from soft law which identified purchasing practices of Member States as considerable non-tariff barriers and as hindering factors for the functioning of a genuinely competitive market.5 The need for competitiveness and transparency in public procurement markets has been also considered as a safeguard to fundamental Treaty principles,6 such as the free movement of goods and services, the right of establishment and the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality. Economic justifications for regulating public procurement have pointed towards introducing competitiveness into the relevant markets in order to increase cross-border trade of products and services destined for the public sector and to achieve price transparency and price convergence across the European Union, thus achieving significant savings.7 Legislative actions have introduced a generation of legal instruments which aim at establishing gradually a homogenous public procurement market in the European Union. The reforms on public procurement have sought to accomplish unobstructed access
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