Carina Risvig Hamer

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 3, Page 190 - 201

The article explores and analysis how the principle of proportionality has developed over the years and how the principle is applied in EU public procurement law. It explores different justifications for exclusions of undertakings such as social and environmental considerations, and how the principle of proportionality is used when balancing the different aims in public procurement. It is argued that the principle of proportionality ultimately ensures the procurement rules are flexible and contributes to safeguarding and developing the aims in public contracts. Keywords: proportionality; internal market; restrictions; exclusions grounds

Wojciech Hartung, Katarzyna Kuźma

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 2, Page 110 - 124

This article analyses the European Commission (EC) Notice on tools to fight collusion in public procurement and on guidance on how to apply the related exclusion ground of 15 March 2021. The grounds and rules for the exclusion of contractors from participation in public procurement procedures adopted in the 2014 Directives raise many interpretation questions of the contracting authorities and contractors on the one hand and the bodies adjudicating on public procurement in EU Member States on the other hand. One of them is the ground referred to in Article 57(4)(d) of Directive 2014/24/EU. Its correct application in practice should contribute considerably to fighting collusive practices in public procurement. It seemed that the long-awaited EC guidance concerning the said exclusion ground will help answer questions of the market and thus contribute to increased legal certainty upon its application. However, this was not the case. Keywords: collusion; EC Notice; exclusion ground; sufficiently plausible indications; contracting authority

Aldona Kowalczyk, Aleksandra Sołtysińska

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 3, Page 181 - 192

The concept of self-cleaning was introduced into Polish and EU public procurement law relatively recently though, earlier, many EU Member States and international institutions saw the need to allow errant contractors to show contrition and goodwill by adopting voluntary remedial measures. Numerous doubts attach to specific remedial measures, timeframes and documents needed for a contractor’s recovery of good standing, and to contractors participating in several tenders simultaneously. This article seeks to both propose the imposition of some sort of order on the self-cleaning regime and respond to issues arising in everyday practice and jurisprudence. Keywords: public procurement, self-cleaning, exclusion grounds