Stelios Tsevas, Anastasia Panagiotopoulou, Mara Kokkoni

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 18 (2023), Issue 2, Page 154 - 157

Isuf Jahmurataj, Njomëza Zejnullahu

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 4, Page 250 - 257

An efficient and transparent public procurement system is challenging in many countries, in particular developing countries where public procurement remains vulnerable to political interference and corruption. The purpose of this article is to identify challenges in the implementation of public procurement contracts in Kosovo and their correlation with corruption. Keywords: Kosovo; contract implementation; EC report; transparency

Aura Iurascu

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 18 (2023), Issue 1, Page 6 - 16

With the 2003 Communication on Integrated Product Policy, the European Commission started focusing more on ‘greening’ Member States’ public procurement law, by encouraging the adoption of National Action Plans (NAPs). Subsequently, with the 2008 Communication, green public procurement (GPP) criteria were developed. Since then, the Commission has developed more than 20 standard GPP criteria, which are currently applied voluntarily. Recently, the EU Commission indicated that they are working on mandating GPP criteria and several legislative proposals are foreseeing the setup of mandatory EU GPP criteria for all Member States. Some domestic legislations have already introduced mandatory GPP criteria. In particular, the Italian legislator followed up the Commission’s initiative on NAPs, and adopted mandatory minimum environmental criteria (MECs) for 18 purchasing categories. This article aims to describe and compare the evolution of GPP criteria in the EU and Italy to illustrate and anticipate possible outcomes for the forthcoming mandatory GPP at the EU level. By doing so, the paper emphasises the prominent role played by the Italian Council of State in ensuring the mandatory minimum for environmental criteria in Italian law. Finally, it argues that the Italian approach, which uses the ineffectiveness of the contract as a general and well-established remedy, has proven successful in ensuring the enforcement of MECs. Keywords: GPP criteria; sustainable public procurement; mandatory minimum environmental criteria; Italian public procurement law; ineffectiveness of public contract

Marc Pauka

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 18 (2023), Issue 3, Page 230 - 233

Aleksandra Sołtysińska

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 3, Page 158 - 167

The concept of in-house procurement respects the discretion of the Member States regarding the provision of public services and allows for purchasing and contracting services outside the competitive market. Contracting authorities may award an in-house contract to a controlled legal person if they demonstrate that the conditions of organisational and economic dependence have been met. This article analyses the condition of economic dependence and ways to prove that it has been satisfied. Numerous questions regarding the legal forms of entrusting tasks to a controlled legal person, the means of performance of such tasks in the context of admissibility of subcontracting, the methods of calculating revenue derived from the performance of tasks entrusted by the contracting authority and permissible forms of financing a controlled legal person arise in practice and jurisprudence. In view of the above, this publication is an attempt to clarify doubts. Keywords: in-house contract; in-house procurement; subcontracting

Marko Turudić

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 1, Page 14 - 22

Under Directive 1989/665/EEC, locus standi in public procurement remedies is recognised to at least any person having or having had an interest in obtaining a particular contract and who has been or risks being harmed by an alleged infringement. The Croatian Public Procurement Act does not diverge from this definition. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has established expansive and detailed case-law on locus standi, and in particular on what is to be considered a ‘particular contract’ under Article 1(3) of Directive 1989/665/EEC. Unfortunately, the case-law of the State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures (DKOM) and of the High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia (VUSRH) established a much narrower interpretation. This paper aims to analyse relevant case-law of the CJEU, DKOM and VUSRH and explain how has this narrow interpretation of ‘particular contract’ affected the availability of public procurement remedies in Croatia. Keywords: public procurement remedies, locus standi, interpretation of particular contract

Ezgi Uysal

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 2, Page 127 - 131

Annotation on the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (Ninth Chamber) of 8 July 2021 in Case C-295/20 Sanresa UAB v Aplinkos apsaugos departamentas prie Aplinkos ministerijos In July 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered its judgment on Case C-295/20. The judgment established that the requirement to obtain authorisation for international shipment of waste under Regulation 1013/2006 is a contract performance condition therefore a contracting authority cannot exclude a tenderer due to the lack thereof at the time of tender submission.

Tünde Tátrai

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 3, Page 202 - 205

Case C-263/19 T-Systems Magyarország Zrt., BKK Budapesti Közlekedési Központ Zrt. v Közbeszerzési Hatóság Közbeszerzési Döntőbizottság, Judgment of the Court of Justice (Fourth Chamber) of 14 May 2020 Typically, public procurement rules address the preparation of the procedure or the conduct of procedural acts up to the conclusion of the contract. A novelty of the 2014 Directives is that they provide a much wider opportunity for contract amendment, thus the period of performing the contract becomes increasingly emphatic in regulation. CJEU rulings more and more frequently articulate governing interpretations in relation to contract performance in connection with, for instance, the involvement of subcontractors under a public procurement contract. Recently, the CJEU brought an exceedingly important ruling, which considers the relationships of responsibility of the parties in initiating contract amendments. The question does not concern primarily the unlawful amendment of the contract but the issue to what extent the bidder or the contracting party can be made liable for an unlawful contract amendment. In this case, the CJEU regarded it as appropriate to impose a fine on both contracting parties for an unlawful contract amendment.

Ana Lucía Jaramillo Villacís, Ana Isabel Peiró Baquedano

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 1, Page 78 - 88

Before the publication of the 2014 Public Procurement Directives, the rules on the modification of contracts were not codified. The legislator considered necessary to add a whole new section to clarify the conditions under which modifications to a contract during its performance require a new procurement procedure, taking into account the relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). According to the CJEU rulings, a new procurement procedure is required in case of material changes to the initial contract, in particular to the scope and content of the mutual rights and obligations of the parties, including the distribution of intellectual property rights. Such material changes demonstrate the parties’ intention to renegotiate essential terms or conditions of that contract. To understand the line of reasoning of the Court, this article provides a summary of the landmark cases before, during and after the implementation of the 2014 Directives. Keywords: contract modifications; substantial amendment; material modification; illegal award; essential conditions; renegotiations

Ioannis Vidakis, Dimitrios Georgantas, George Vlachos

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 1, Page 73 - 77

This article connects the politics, strategy, economy, and armament programmes of ancient Athens, during the time of the general and leader Themistocles. It refers, in particular, to the decision of the city to build a strong fleet, as well as to the methodology of assigning, financing, and implementing this massive project, considering the state of the city at that historical period. The article attempts to present a historic innovation, which was quite successful, conveying an optimistic message of a proportionate, effective response to the current challenges our country (Greece) is facing, in the fields of national security and economy. The text aims to encourage the ability to think critically among the readers regarding the crucial role Themistocles played in the course of history and the need to realise that the promotion and support of capable and qualified leaders are of paramount importance for small nations. Keywords: public procurement; defence contracts; naval equipment; Ancient Athens; Themistocles