Out-Law News 1 min. read

European Commission asks for views on promoting environmentally friendly procurement


The European Commission is seeking views on its green public procurement (GPP) policy, as part of its wider plans to introduce mandatory standards on more sustainable consumption and production.

In a questionnaire the Commission asks whether there is a need to improve existing criteria and considers barriers which may be discouraging member states from following its guidelines. It also asks whether some of the current initiatives should be replaced with a more rigorous system involving a standardised approach or financial incentives.

Options considered in the questionnaire include the potential introduction of certain mandatory environmental criteria in EU funding programmes, or including environmental criteria in sector-specific rules such as the Clean Vehicles directive. It also asks whether the EU should consider increasing its target for uptake of the policy from the current 50%. The questionnaire also asks whether GPP should be abandoned altogether as an "ineffective tool" in relation to other EU rules and initiatives.

The Commission has also asked whether new guidance on GPP, issued in November, has proved useful. Responses to the questionnaire should be submitted by 3 April 2012.

GPP is an overriding EU policy encouraging public authorities to try to procure goods, services and works with a reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle when compared to goods, services and works with the same purpose that they might otherwise procure. It is a voluntary instrument, which means that member states and public authorities can decide on the extent to which they implement the policy, and can be used for contracts that fall below the minimum value for general EU public procurement laws to apply.

New guidance (56-page / PDF) on GPP, issued by the Commission in November, provides examples of when and how GPP is being implemented in the EU and advice on how a GPP policy can be implemented effectively. It goes on to explain how GPP may be incorporated within a member state or local authority's general public procurement policy, taking into account rules on value for money and acting fairly.

Currently, tenders under EU procurement rules will usually be awarded either on the basis of the lowest price or the 'most economically advantageous tender' (MEAT). Where MEAT is used, criteria can include social and environmental considerations. However, award criteria must be specific and objectively measurable, and cannot confer unrestricted freedom of choice on contracting authorities.

Proposed changes to the EU's public procurement directives, which the Commission hopes to adopt by the end of 2012, will ensure public bodies have to take greater consideration of social and environmental criteria such as life-cycle costs and the integration of vulnerable and disadvantaged persons into projects. However, it has said that lowest price should remain the deciding factor in the case of highly standardised goods or services.

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