No 6 (January 97/Janvier 97/Januar 97)

The European Commission has adopted a Green Paper on "Public procurement in the European Union: Exploring the way forward". This discussion paper aims at launching a wide debate on how the Commission can make the most of the opening of public procurement markets. The legislative framework for ensuring that public contracts are awarded without discrimination is in place, but two major problems persist: the Directives have not been fully and properly transposed by all Member States and their economic impact is still relatively minor. The Green Paper presents the Commission's preliminary views in view of improving the situation: monitoring application of the rules, improving access to public contracts, information, training, electronic procurement. The Commission invites all interested parties (Council, European Parliament, Economic and Social Committee, Committee of the Regions, contracting entities, suppliers and trade associations, consumers) to contribute to the debate in writing by 31 March 1997. The communication, which will include a plan of action, should set out what needs to be done to bolster the effectiveness of the legal framework and more fully achieve the objectives of the Community's public procurement policy.

Single Market Commissioner, Mr. Mario MONTI, on whose initiative the Green Paper was adopted, stated: "Now is the time to look at what we have achieved and what is still to be done". If public procurement is opened up to competition completely and correctly, it should produce major savings for contracting entities and fresh opportunities for economic operators. Some work remains to be done if the Union is to benefit fully from its public procurement policy. The purpose of the Green Paper is to invite all those concerned to participate in a general debate about the measures required at all levels.

The regulatory framework for public procurement has now been established, but some problems remain: on the one hand, transposition and application of the public procurement directives by the Member States is inadequate and, on the other, the policy applied to date has had little economic impact.

In an effort to resolve these problems, the Green Paper calls for discussion of the following points:

• effective transposition and implementation of the rules in force, which the Commission will rigorously enforce;
• improved access for suppliers to public procurement as a prerequisite of the success of that policy, by means of information, training and the development of electronic tendering procedures;
• the way that public procurement policy is linked to other Community policies, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises, standardisation, trans-European networks (TENs), the Cohesion and Structural Funds and contracts awarded by the European institutions or financed from Community resources, social policy, environmental policy and the defence sector;
• access to other countries' procurement markets.

At the end of the written consultation stage (on 31 March 1997), the Commission will decide whether to hold a hearing with interested parties. It will draw up a communication on public procurement on the basis of the contributions received. Should the discussion prompted by the Green Paper reveal inadequacies in the existing framework, the Commission will take appropriate measures.

The economic importance of public procurement in Europe is considerable: public authorities and public utilities subject to Community rules each year spend some ECU 720 billion on goods and services, equivalent in 1994 to 11.5% of the GDP of the 15 Member States of the Union, or some ECU 2000 per citizen of the Union or again, the combined economies of Belgium, Denmark and Spain. The fundamental aims of Union policy on public procurement are: rational utilisation of taxpayers' money to obtain better quality public services at lower cost, access by suppliers to a Single Market offering large outlets, and strengthening firms' competitiveness by means of transparent tendering procures and the right competitive conditions for public contracts to be awarded without discrimination. By implementing efficient purchasing systems, public procurement policy can mean considerable savings for governments and, hence, for taxpayers and consumers. Such considerations are particularly relevant to policies for reducing budget deficits in line with the Maastricht convergence criteria.

A more open public procurement policy has other, equally important advantages: fair, non-discriminatory and transparent public procurement procedures reduce the risk of fraud and corruption.

Die Kommission hat das Grünbuch "Das öffentliche Auftragswesen in der Europäischen Union - Überlegungen für die Zukunft" genehmigt, das den Rahmen für eine umfassende Diskussion der Politik im Bereich des öffentlichen Auftragswesens vorgibt. Diegemeinschaftlichen Rechtsvorschriften hierzu wurden zwar mittlerweile erlassen, doch bleiben noch zwei wesentliche Schwierigkeiten: die bisher nur lückenhafte Umsetzung dieser Vorschriften in innerstaatliches Recht und die noch recht bescheidenen wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen der Maßnahmen. Das Grünbuch enthält erste Überlegungen der Kommission zu Fragen wie Kontrolle der Anwendung der Rechtsvorschriften, Verbesserung des Zugangs zu öffentlichen Aufträgen, Information, Schulung und elektronische Ausschreibungsverfahren. Die Kommission ersucht alle interessierten Kreise (Rat, Europäisches Parlament, Wirtschafts- und Sozialausschuß, Ausschuß der Regionen, Auftraggeber, Lieferanten, Verbraucher, Verbände) um schriftliche Stellungnahmen bis 31. März 1997.

La Commission Européenne a adopté un Livre Vert sur "Les marchés publics dans l'Union Européenne - Pistes de réflexion pour l'avenir". Ce document de réflexion est conçu pour lancer un large débat sur comment l'Union peut tirer pleinement profit de l'ouverture des marchés publics. Le cadre législatif assurant que les marchés publics soient attribués sans discrimination est maintenant en place, mais deux problèmes majeurs subsistent: une transposition partielle et incomplète par les Etats membres et un impact économique encore relativement faible. Le Livre Vert présente la réflexion initiale de la Commission en vue d'améliorer la situation: contrôle déterminé de l'application du droit par les Etats membres, amélioration de l'accès aux marchés publics, information, formation, procédures électroniques. La Commission invite toutes les parties intéressées (Conseil, Parlement Européen, Comité Economique et Social, Comité des Regions, entités et pouvoirs adjudicateurs, fournisseurs et leurs organisations professionnelles, consommateurs) à contribuer par écrit à ce débat avant le 31 mars 1997.

The Green Paper is also available on the DGXV website (see back cover).

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