Answer given by Mr Breton on behalf of the European Commission
31.7.2020
The 2014 public procurement Directives[1] set an obligation for Member States to take appropriate measures to ensure that in the performance of procurement contracts economic operators comply with applicable obligations in the fields of social and labour law, including those established by collective agreements[2]. This applies to both bidders and their subcontractors. Non-compliance exposes the bidder to being excluded from the procedure, or from the award of a public contract.
The directives[3] provide that such obligations could be mirrored in contract clauses and that it is possible for these clauses to ensure compliance with collective agreements in compliance with Union law. These provisions also leave a certain margin of discretion to Member States for their concrete implementation, also with a view to take into account different labour law and collective agreements systems at national level.
Furthermore, national authorities are under no obligation to collect and report data on the use of collective agreements in procurement. As a result the Commission at this stage has no comprehensive view of the share of public procurement contracts concluded with companies that apply a collective agreement.
The Commission will continue to stress that compliance with labour law and collective agreements in public procurement is compulsory and will continue to encourage Member States to use public tenders to achieve positive social impact. To this end, it is preparing an updated guidance on socially responsible public procurement and a collection of good practices in this field, which will contribute to shedding some light on the use of collective agreements in public procurement.
- [1] Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 February 2014 on the award of concession contracts; Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC; Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 February 2014 on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services and repealing Directive 2004/17/EC, OJ L94.
- [2] See Article 18(2) of Directive 2014/24/EU.
- [3] See Recital 39 of Directive 2014/24/EU.