Better Late Than Never: On the Implementation of the EU Public Procurement Directives 2004/17 and 2004/18 in Many Member States of the European Union

Abstract

This contribution addresses the implementation of the Public Sector Procurement Directive 2004/18/EC and the Utilities Sector Procurement Directive 2004/17/EC in the 27 Member States. The term formal implementation is used since the discussion is limited to the questions whether and when the Member States formally attempted to respond to the requirements of the new Directives by introducing new national public procurement laws and regulations or by amending their existing legal frameworks. An analysis on whether the substantive contents of the new Directives were properly and fully implemented in the 27 national jurisdictions is not provided. In other words, this contribution does not discuss the substantive compatibility of the new public procurement laws of the Member States with the requirements of the new Directives.