Key Issues for Effective Procurement Remedies
Key Issues for Effective Procurement Remedies

Summary/Abstract: Public procurement has been regulated by (then) European Economic Community (EEC) secondary law since 1971. Substantive EU rules aim at enforcing non-discrimination in the internal market. To this end, they prescribe competitive and transparent award procedures contracting authorities or entities must follow to choose their partner. Remedies for breaches of substantive procurement rules have been the object of an early codification in (then) EEC law. The recitals in Directive 89/665/EEC clearly state the issue the directive itself is expected to address: existing arrangements at both national and Community levels for ensuring their application are not always adequate to ensure compliance with the relevant Community provisions particularly at a stage when infringements can be corrected. Many remedies, however, are only named without much details being provided on what is required at national level. Moreover, in the past few years, the Court of Justice seems to have become more restrained in adding details to the Remedies Directives, having instead more and more often recourse to the principle of procedural autonomy. This leaves much uncertainty on the standard of review required or appropriate under the Remedies Directives.

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