The representatives of the Republic Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures (the Republic Commission) participated in 13th Meeting of the Network of First Instance Review Bodies of the European Union (Network), organized by the European Commission -Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises (DG GROW).
The Network of First Instance Review Bodies of the European Union – as foreseen by the EU Single Market Strategy, has been established in response to the Evaluation Report (adopted on 24 January 2017) on the effectiveness of the Public Procurement Remedies Directives. The aim of the Network is to encourage cooperation and exchange of information in order to support the efficient functioning of national review bodies in public procurement, including data collection and development of indicators related to the national legal protection systems.
It was the second time that the representatives of the Republic Commission attended the meeting of the Network, in the capacity of observers.
After introductory speech given by Mary Veronica Tovsak Pleterski, Director in the DG GROW, the morning session included the presentations of the Spanish and Greek national review systems. The Spanish representative focused on the so-called “obstructive” complaints and possible modalities to overcome this issue.
During the afternoon session, the representative of DG GROW spoke on the latest case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the area of public procurement and legal protection. This part of the meeting also covered the exclusion of economic operators for breaches of obligations concerning the payment of taxes and social security contributions, in line with Directive 2014/24/EU.
At the end of the meeting, a summary of the Network’s 5-year performance was made, together with the future steps and possible activities in the future.