Ioan Baciu

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Jahrgang 18 (2023), Ausgabe 4, Seite 270 - 273

Ioan Baciu

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Jahrgang 16 (2021), Ausgabe 2, Seite 151 - 157

As a matter of principle, suppliers and goods originating in the European Economic Area, in parties to the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement, or to a bilateral agreement concluded with the EU, are protected against any forms of discrimination based on the grounds of nationality, similar to those coming from the EU. Suppliers originating in other countries, falling outside the scope of Article 25 of Directive 2014/24, cannot, however, be guaranteed the same form of protection. The access of the latter to procurement procedures in the EU may hence be blocked, but this essentially is a prerogative of each national government and of each contracting authority. On the other hand, confronted with an assault by Chinese companies which have managed to capture a dangerously big share of the EU public procurement market, the Commission started an active campaign on several fronts. More recently, the Commission decided to make a substantial effort in convincing Member States to come forward with concrete measures by which to restrict in an effective manner the access of third-country and, in particular, Chinese, suppliers to the EU procurement market. In response, the Romanian Government adopted in April 2021 a new set of laws providing for the automatic exclusion from the award procedures of all suppliers residing in one of the countries listed therein. Beyond its immediate economic effect, this measure could create some serious blockages in the market with unimaginable consequences, especially in times of crisis such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Keywords: China; third-country bidders; Romania

Ioan Baciu

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Jahrgang 13 (2018), Ausgabe 1, Seite 73 - 77

Dacian C. Dragoş, Alexandra Horváthová

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Jahrgang 12 (2017), Ausgabe 3, Seite 266 - 280

Public procurement is the process by which governments as well as other bodies governed by public law purchase products, services and public works. The European Union has adopted legal tools to introduce a certain standard of procedures across its Member States. Nevertheless, there are challenges that remain to be addressed. This article focuses on one area directly connected to both transparency and integrity – conflict of interests. The article first analyses the concept of conflict of interests and how the EU has approached solving conflicts of interests within public procurement. The second part of the article looks into the specifics of two countries that continue to have challenges in addressing conflicts of interests – Romania and Slovakia.