Public Procurement and the EU Competition Rules

Public procurement and competition law are both important fields of EU law and policy, intimately intertwined in the creation of the internal market. This book comprehensively explains the many ways in which these fields, often considered independent of one another, interact and overlap in the creation of the internal market. This process of convergence between competition and public procurement law is particularly apparent in the 2013 Directives on public procurement, which consolidate the principle of competition in terms very close to those advanced by the author in the first edition. This second edition continues to ask how competition law principles inform and condition public procurement rules, and whether the latter (in their revised form) are adequate to ensure that competition is not distorted. The book also deepens the analysis of the market behavior of the public buyer from a competition perspective. Proceeding through a careful assessment of the general rules of competition and public procurement, the book constantly tests the efficacy of these rules against a standard of the proper functioning of undistorted competition in the market for public procurement. It traces the increasing relevance of competition considerations in the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and sets out criteria and recommendations to continue influencing the development of EU economic law. (Series: Hart Studies in Competition Law) [Subject: European Law, Public Procurement Law, Competition Law, Economic Law, International Trade Law]

Albert Sanchez Graells is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol.