This revised 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...

The development of a more competition-oriented public procurement system is possible, on the basis of the principle of competition that is embedded in the EC public procurement Directives. This paper explores the existence of the principle of competition, roughly delimits its scope, and broadly...

The use of soft law instruments is pervasive in the field of EU competition policy. This poses significant legal challenges derived from the progressive ‘hardening’ of these regulatory tools by the European Courts as a result of the application of the general principles of EU law. The...

Procurement activities conducted by the public buyer are very relevant for the proper working of the markets. Hence, the market activities of the public buyer should comply with the requirements of competition law - ie should not restrict or distort competitive outcomes derived from free market...

Block exemption regulations (BER) survived the modernisation of EC competition law. According to the European Commission and some commentators, BER have a major role to play in the system instituted by Regulation 1/2003. Others are more critical and consider that BER are hard to nest within the...

This paper focuses on the treatment of public procurement activities under EC competition law. After briefly outlining the competition economics of public procurement, the paper shows the perceived shortcomings of current EC competition rules and case-law to effectively tackle publicly-generated...

Tort Law is not harmonised at a European level. Substantive and procedural regulations vary substantially across EU Member States in most of the facets and dimensions of damages actions. These differences derive, amongst other causes, from different legal traditions. However, significant efforts...

This paper offers some reflections on the position advanced by the EFTA Court that a simple breach of EU public procurement law is in itself sufficient to trigger the contracting authority's liability in damages (Fosen-Linjen). I argue that this position is flawed because it deviates from...

This paper assesses the risks, rationale and justification for the rules on centralisation and aggregation of public procurement in Directive 2014/24. The paper explores the justifications advanced for the aggregation of purchasing and the countervailing risks it generates. In both cases, it...

This chapter takes a comparative view on the rules applicable to the exclusion of economic operators from public procurement procedures covered by the EU rules. It focuses on seven Member States (France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom) and in their law,...