New Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts

In 2004 the EU's Council of Ministers and the European Parliament officially adopted the legislative package simplifying and modernising the EU public procurement Directives.

This revision merged the four existing European directives into two legal instruments:

• The so-called "traditional" Directive 2004/18/EC for public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts;
• Directive 2004/17/EC on the "special sectors" of water, energy, transport and postal services.

The Member States are currently implementing these Directives (it was due for 31 January 2006).

In the frame of Fair Procura, only the Directive 2004/18/EC and its implementation will be studied. This is because public purchases involving Fair Trade products are likely to involve public supply contracts or service contracts such as canteen services contracted by a public authority or institution, or services for catering at receptions, conferences or other events organised by public entities. However, the conclusions drawn by the Fair Procura research may be extended to public work contracts when applicable.

In this web page section you will find up to date documents, information on the transposition of the Directive 2004/18/EC and links to the national legislation.

More info on the EU legislative package at the EC Public procurement website

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/legislation_en.htm#package