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"Conclusions" [2016] ELECD 937; in Bovis, Christopher (ed), "Research Handbook on EU Public Procurement Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 627

Book Title: Research Handbook on EU Public Procurement Law

Editor(s): Bovis, Christopher

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781953259

Section Title: Conclusions

Number of pages: 2

Extract:

Conclusions


The vision and aspirations of European Institutions towards a Single Market Act1 have
identified public procurement reforms as essential components of competitiveness and
growth2 and as indispensable instruments of delivering public services.3
Public procurement in the European Union has been an integral part of the concept
of the common market. Its regulation provides for economic and policy justifications
for eliminating existing non-tariff barriers in inter-state trade. The identification of
public procurement as a major non-tariff barrier has revealed the economic importance
of its regulation. Savings and price convergence appear as the main arguments for
liberalising the trade patterns of public procurement. The economic approach to the
regulation of public procurement aims at the integration of public markets across the
European Union. Through the principles of transparency, non-discrimination and
objectivity in the award of public contracts, it is envisaged that the regulatory system
will bring about competitiveness in the relevant product and geographical markets, will
increase import penetration of products and services destined for the public sector, will
enhance the tradability of public contracts across the common market, will result in
significant price convergence and finally it will be the catalyst for the needed
rationalisation and industrial restructuring of the European industrial base. Public
procurement liberalisation reflects the wish of European institutions to eliminate
preferential and discriminatory purchasing patterns by the public sector and create
seamless intra-community trade patterns between the public and private sectors. Public
procurement by Member States and their contracting authorities ...