Answer given by Ms Bieńkowska on behalf of the Commission
4.3.2018
The new 2014 Directives[1], which are the result of a thorough reform of the EU public procurement legal framework, already provide for considerable simplification, flexibilisation of the rules and a significant increase in transparency by the compulsory transition to electronic procurement.
Therefore, the Commission does not envisage any new legislative initiative relating to public procurement in the near future. At the same time, the Commission would like to draw attention to the recent Public Procurement Package adopted in October 2017, which focuses on improving transparency and integrity through better public procurement data.[2]
The new EU Public Procurement Directives give Member States stronger legal obligations, tools and incentives to prevent and detect conflicts of interest, fraud and corruption in public procurement. These Directives also extend the scope of exclusion grounds.
In particular, an economic operator shall be excluded from participation in a procurement procedure when it breaches its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions and where this has been established by a judicial or administrative decision having final and binding effect[3]. Money laundering also constitutes a compulsory exclusion ground[4].
To observe these obligations, Member States can make use of the opportunities offered by other European legislative acts to enhance the transparency of public procurement procedures, particularly those facilitating the work of the contracting authorities to check the occurrence of exclusion criteria[5] (e.g. the establishment of publicly accessible central registries of company beneficial ownership information or initiatives to combat tax evasion and tax avoidance).
- [1] Directive 2014/24/EU, Directive 2014/25/EU, Directive 2014/23/EU.
- [2] http://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/public-procurement/strategy_en
- [3] Article 57(2) of Directive 2014/24/EU, Article 80(1) of Directive 2014/25/EU and Article 38(5) of Directive 2014/23/EU.
- [4] E.g. Article 57(1)e of Directive 2014/24/EU.
- [5] Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing or Council Directive (EU) 2016/1164 of 12 July 2016 laying down rules against tax avoidance practices that directly affect the functioning of the internal market.