The Competition Register for Public Procurement has been put into operation at the Bundeskartellamt in Germany. The Competition Register centrally and electronically provides public contracting entities with comprehensive information on possible grounds for excluding an undertaking from a specific award procedure for having engaged in economic misconduct. A central access point to such information had previously not been available in Germany. The Competition Register closes this information gap and allows public contracting entities to make an informed decision when assessing whether grounds for exclusion exist. The Competition Register also opens up the possibility for undertakings to have their self-cleaning measures checked by a central body. If the Bundeskartellamt deems the requirements for self-cleaning to have been fulfilled, the undertaking’s entry is deleted from the register. This decision is binding on all contracting authorities in Germany, meaning the undertaking in question may then no longer be excluded from procurement procedures. The Bundeskartellamt has published Guidelines and a Practical Guide on self-cleaning and the procedure for the deletion of an entry.
Keywords: Competition Register; self-cleaning; grounds for exclusion; compliance