Public Procurement: An Overview of EU and National Case Law (from an EU Competition Law Perspective)

Abstract:     
This foreword to a special issue of e-competitions explores the EU competition law implications of public procurement activities. More specifically, it tries to highlight how bid rigging seems pervasive in the public procurement setting despite increased enforcement efforts (a situation that should come as no surprise to economists) (Part I), how there are very significant limitations and almost absolute difficulties in curving the market behavior of power public buyers (Part II) and how other issues, such as the treatment of mergers or State aid in public procurement markets may require more refined analyses than those applied so far (Part III). References to EU and national case law are used to color the depiction of the current situation in the enforcement of EU competition law in the public procurement setting, but the selection of cases or jurisdictions considered does not attempt to be exhaustive.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 19

Keywords: public procurement, competition law, state aid, bid rigging, comparative review

JEL Classification: K21, K23

Accepted Paper Series