The European Parliament discusses the new proposed international public procurement rules

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Following the Council's recent agreement on a mandate for the negotiations with the European Parliament, the Parliament will now update its own position in the form of a new legislative report (rapporteur: Daniel Caspary, EPP).

The IPI would enable the EU to limit or exclude, on a case-by-case basis, access to its public procurement markets by economic operators originating in countries that apply restrictive or discriminatory measures to EU businesses. It is a trade offensive tool aiming to provide the EU the necessary negotiating leverage to open up third countries’ procurement markets and ensure access and a level playing field to EU businesses in those markets.

In a memo published in May, FIEC and EIC – European International Contractors – make the case for the IPI Regulation “as an effective tool for enforcing reciprocal access for EU economic operators in public procurement and ensuring a level playing field”. The FIEC-EIC memo points out that “whereas the EU has opened its public procurement markets to a significant degree to competitors from third countries, many non-EU countries are reluctant to open their public procurement markets to the EU. China in particular has opened only a fraction of its domestic procurement to foreign bidders whilst, at the same time, Chinese state-owned enterprises participate in public tenders inside the European Union and submit prices, which are often below production cost and noticeably far below that of the European bidders”.