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EC guide buying social is now available |
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 The much awaited publication from the European Commission "Buying Social: A Guide to taking account of Social Considerations in Public Procurement" is out !!! You can download it here.
The guide is also available in other official EU languages on the EC website.
This non binding EC document gives guidance on how to include social considerations into public procurement decisions and tendering in the EU legal framework. It counts a chapter on “social labels and the implication for ethical trade” (page 31 and 32), which confirms that it is possible to give preference to Fair Trade in tenders covered by the EU Public Procurement Directives and gives the interpretation of the EC on how to do it, technically.
The EC advises not to refer to specific labels in tenders, other than a way of proof. It also advises contracting authorities to introduce Fair Trade criteria either in the technical specifications or contract performance clauses of tenders (depending on the nature of the criteria).
 For complementary information about how to practically include Fair Trade considerations into public procurement, you can download the guidance developed within the Public Affairs project "Buying Fair Trade" here: part one and part two.
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Buying Fair Trade |
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.bmp) Buying Fair Trade - European Model on Fair Trade Public Procurement
now available online!
The European Model on Fair Trade Public Procurement, developed within the Public Affairs project, with input of the main Fair Trade networks, as well as with the legal assistance of an international law firm, is now available online.
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State of Play of FTPP in Europe |
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.bmp) This research is the result of a three year involvement by the Public Af fairs project’s partners, in which political and legal aspects of Fair Trade Public Procurement have been analysed at EU, national, regional and local level, and existing practices have been addressed.
This broad analysis has permitted not only to draw the big picture of Fair Trade Public Procurement at EU level, but also to observe the progresses made in the past years, and to identify the needs that still exist. Next steps to be taken by contracting authorities, in order to increase and enhance the use of Fair Trade Public Procurement as a tool to support sustainable development, have been identified.
If you want to know more about the conclusions and recommendations of this study, please find the research summary here.
To download the full document, please go to the section "Studies" of the website.
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Fair Trade Public Procurement, a tool for sustainable development
Thank you for your participation! Your feedback is important to us. Please take a few minutes to fill in the evaluation questionnaire clicking here.
 The final conference of the Public Affairs project aim presented the key outputs of the project’s researches and successful initiatives by committed local and regional authorities. The conference also set the state of play of Fair Trade Public Procurement (FTPP) in Europe, and was the occasion to discuss about how to continue using FTPP as a tool to support sustainable development and in particular marginalized producers from developing countries. Many high level speakers from across the EU debated on key topics of FTPP such as legal do and don’ts in FTPP, textile and clothing, as well as food and catering sector issues.
The presentations of the speakers are available in the FA!R PROCURA 2010 section of the website. |
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What is the Observatory? |
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The European Observatory on Fair Trade Public Procurement is a Europe-wide platform for those interested in Fair Trade Public Procurement. It was set up within the Public Affairs project in 2008, and has continually monitored and analysed laws on public procurement, disseminated research and studies on the subject and made available Best Practices, Case Studies and interesting tenders. The project has now come to an end, but our work on FTPP will continue.
The website has been expanded throughout the last three years in order to provide an interactive online platform where those interested can gather and share information through the Observatory’s network. It will continue to be updated regularly.
Best Practices and Case Studies were collected, and researches on national laws are available on the website, together with many other enriching resources.
In September 2010, the Public Affairs project issued Buying Fair Trade: European Model on Fair Trade Public Procurement. This document aims at guiding public authorities on how to include Fair Trade criteria in their procurement procedures, abiding by the current legal framework of FTPP at EU level. It is available online.
A EU study on "State of Play of Fair Trade public procurement" has also been developped and is available on the website in the corresponding section. New case studies and researches about national laws have also been shared on the Observatory website.
For more information on the Public Affairs project please click here.
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This website has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of EFTA and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.
