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A tentative agreement finally emerged, on 26 June, from the show of strength between the Council, Parliament and Commission, on the public procurement package that modernises existing rules (which date [...]

The European Commission proposed to the Council, on 22 March, that it gives its green light to the formal conclusion of the protocol amending the World Trade Organisation's Government Procurement [...]

In a Europe where the terrorist threat is a reality, the security industry, which manufactures surveillance cameras and scanners, intends to obtain satisfaction on certain demands it considers essential for [...]

While he approves of the principle of a regulation on awarding concessions, Jean-Claude Boual has significant reservations about the content of the Commission's proposal. He is one of the founders [...]

The Chair of the European Parliament's Internal Market Committee, Arlene McCarthy (PES, UK), has received all-round praise for her own-initiative report on implementation of public procurement legislation. The report called [...]

Plans to introduce a minimum waiting period between the announcement of public procurement decisions and the signing of contracts have been backed by MEPs in the European Parliament's Internal Market [...]

The proposal for a total abolition of maize intervention, as presented by the European Commission in mid-December 2006, will not be pursued by the German EU Presidency. The Presidency has [...]

Concerns over the role played by the Greek National Council for Radio and Television in public procurement awards mean the country will now be reported to the EU Court of [...]

The European Parliament is about to embark on the second reading (co-decision procedure) on the proposal for a regulation on the awarding of public procurement contracts in the public transport [...]

After several months of lobbying, France and Italy have finally convinced EU member states to move forward on the Agreement on Government Procurement (AGP) dossier. Meeting in Brussels on 12 [...]

A public contract can be considered a works contract even if it contains some service contract elements, the EU Court of Justice has ruled. Moreover, when calculating the contract's value [...]

Concerned at the likelihood of a very sharp increase in public procurement of grain, principally in Hungary, the European Commission is keen from next year to abandon intervention on maize. [...]

It is not yet a fiasco, but there is no denying that the project promoted in France to look at the possibility of introducing a system that will improve the [...]

The European Commission posted a new interpretative guide on its website on 24 July on the Community law applicable to contract awards not or not fully subject to the provisions [...]

A list of options for improving the access of SMEs to public procurement contracts was presented by French Minister for External Trade Ms Christine Lagarde to the Commission and other [...]

Finland (excluding the autonomous land Islands) has been exempted from having to apply EU public procurement procedures to its electricity market. The European Commission decided on 19 June that the [...]

EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has made it crystal clear he plans to promote more competitive tendering procedures. 'We will continue developing the EU public procurement framework', he told [...]

MEPs have reacted sceptically to the European Commission's announcement that it will publish a Communication to interpret the 2004 EU public procurement Directives (17 and 18/2004/EC). German Socialist Evelyne Gebhardt [...]

Croatia and Turkey need to do more to align themselves with EU public procurement rules before they can begin membership talks in that area. According to EU sources, the European [...]

The Council of European Municipalities and Region (CEMR) is urging EU rules on the award of 'in-house' public contracts, following a 6 April EU Court of Justice judgment (Case C-410/04, [...]

A increasingly common dilemma for public authorities is whether to organise a call-for-tender when handing out a contract or whether to give it directly to a company it controls. The [...]

UK Defence Secretary John Reid, the current President of the European Defence Agency's steering board, described agreement on the code as 'an important first step', and expressed the hope that [...]

Concessions. This Communication follows on from the Commission's April 2004 Green Paper (see issue 2866) to which some 200 stakeholders responded. Concessions are not covered by the public procurement Directives, [...]

The Public Procurement Directive (2004/18/EC) has been amended to correct a clerical error that unwittingly widened its scope. The EU Council of Ministers gave its blessing to the change on [...]

Portugal risks incurring a hefty fine following the European Commission's decision to refer it back to the European Court of Justice for flouting EU public procurement law. The Commission said [...]

The Court said the firm, Stadtwerke Brixen AG, had sufficient independence from the municipality (which is located in the German-speaking South Tyrol region of Italy) to warrant a tendering procedure. [...]

The proposal to suspend European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) assistance for certain programmes in Greece has been withdrawn from the agenda of the European Commission meeting on May 10. The [...]

The offending law, due to take effect in a month's time, is inspired by an article in the 2001 Greek constitution which limits media companies' ability to take part in [...]

'The success of the new rules will hinge on how they are implemented', says UNICE, explaining why it has produced the guidelines after the legislative package has been adopted. The [...]

The procedure for exempting companies in the water, energy, transport and postal sectors from EU public procurement rules has been elaborated by the European Commission. Such an exemption is allowed [...]

Growing importance. The increased use of PPPs is partly due to national budgetary constraints, but is also explained by the state's evolving role from public service provider to organiser and [...]

In a case concerning a public tender for provision of air passenger transport services for the Austrian Government, the European Court of Justice has put limits on who is entitled [...]

New law panned. The Commission says that France has not taken into account three objections it sent in October 2002 over the draft national legislation. In particular, it objects to [...]

The Classic Directive (supplies, services and works contracts) was passed by 414 votes to 23 with 29 abstentions, while the sectoral Directive (transport, energy, water, postal services) went through by [...]

Ms Cederschiold would not divulge the details of the compromise. However, on the crucial issue of whether the words 'for the contracting authority' and 'linked to' will feature in the [...]

The European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee adopted its Recommendation on June 17 on the draft Directives on public procurement of works, supplies and services contracts and for the Utilities sectors. [...]

About 80% of the amendments tabled by the rapporteur Stefano Zappala (EPP-ED, Italy) got through the Committee. The Committee has voted to raise by 12-20% the thresholds used to determine [...]

France. Under EU rules, only contracts worth more than certain amounts have to follow the detailed procurement procedures laid down in the relevant Directives from 1992 and 1993. However, the [...]

The first part of the European Commission's package to overhaul the EU's public procurement regime has been approved when, on September 25, the European Parliament accepted, without amendment, the common [...]

'The decision is a welcome and timely reminder to the European Commission and certain European governments that contracting authorities are the trustees not the owners of public money', said Jan [...]

The European Commission adopted a draft Regulation on July 17 on implementing procedures for the new Financial Regulation, along with a draft Framework Financial Regulation for Community bodies. The two [...]

The European Disability Forum (EDF) is moderately pleased with the deal struck by the EU Council of Ministers on May 21 on re-vamping public procurement rules. The EDF welcomes the [...]

The European Commission fears that the common position brokered at the Internal Market Council on May 21 on the 'classic' public procurement draft Directive may flout international trade rules. It [...]

The progress report presented by the Presidency to the Internal Market Council on March 1 glossed over these divisions, as the Spanish wanted to avoid a serious debate at that [...]

Patent.The Ministers discussed the draft Regulation for an EU Patent over lunch. Spanish Secretary for European Affairs Ramon de Miguel said the Member States were moving closer on the proposal. [...]

The first report, which was adopted by 14 votes to 11 with 4 abstentions, concerns the draft Directive on supply, service and works contracts. The proposal merges three existing Directives [...]