Activites

• 1997/11/10 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1997/10/22 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0498/1997 summary

    In adopting the report by Mr Michael TAPPIN (PSE, UK) the European Parliament calls for greater compliance with existing regulations. It also calls for the regulations to be clarified so that they can be more easily understood by the companies concerned. It calls on the Commission to encourage Member States to establish at least one national procurement centre along with regional sub-centres which will have to fulfill some of the mandatory requirements such as to disseminate and materials on procurement and clarify procedural rules. Parliament calls on the Commission to develop a policy to actively encourage public procurement in use of sustainability and urges that invitations to tender take account of social and environmental criteria. It is of the opinion that the Commission should be given the right to instigate an investigation and to act upon findings as is the case with competition in order to achieve effective enforcement. Parliament calls for more effective control and enforcement of directives, together with the uniform imposition of meaningful penalties for those who breach or seek to evade provisions of the directive as well as a more accessible level of judgment for the resolution of minor disputes or infringements. It calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure respect for the recommendation on late payments. At international level, Parliament calls for third countries to be given access on a reciprocal basis to contract award procedures in the European Union. It urges the Commission to play an active role in setting up a harmonized code of practice on openness, fairness and transparency within procurement dealings at WTO level and applicable to all Member States. �

• 1997/10/21 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1997/10/09 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0309/1997
• #2007
• 1997/05/21 Council Meeting
  • 2007
• #1993
• 1997/03/13 Council Meeting
  • 1993
• 1997/01/15 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1996/11/27 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(1996)0583 summary

    OBJECTIVE: this Green Paper is intended to provide a framework for a wide-ranging debate on public procurement in the European Union. SUBSTANCE: every year the European Union's public authorities and service undertakings spend about ECU 720 billion buying goods and services, i.e. 11% of EU gross domestic product. In this context the Commission document stresses the need for an effective public procurement policy which is fundamental to the success of the single market as a whole. The legal framework for open and competitive public procurement is in position, but its implementation in the Member States is partial and incomplete and the economic impact is relatively slight. To improve the situation in these two areas the Commission invites all interested parties (EU institutions, trade associations, contracting entities and suppliers) to respond in writing before 31 March 1997. On the basis of the contributions the Commission intends to organize a hearing and to draw up a communication on public procurement. The topics dealt with in the Green Paper are: 1) the transposition and effective implementation of the legislation: greater efforts must be made in this field so that all operators in the Union can participate on equal terms in the public procurement market; 2) the means of improving access to the market through information and training and through electronic tendering; 3) how the correct application of public procurement rules can be linked to the implementation of other Community policies, in particular those relating to SMEs, standards, trans-European networks, the Cohesion and Structural Funds, public procurement by European institutions, social aspects, the environment and defence. On this last point the Commission confirms its willingness to consider any move to introduce more competition into defence procurement; 4) access to procurement markets in other countries: the entry into force of a new WTO government procurement agreement (GPA) opens up a considerable number of new markets in third countries for EU companies. The Green Paper calls on all the interested parties to provide information on any problems arising in these markets. It also stresses the need to help the CEEC associated countries and the Mediterranean countries to develop their public procurement procedures. �

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1996)0583
• Debate in Council: 1993
• Debate in Council: 2007
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0309/1997
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0498/1997

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)