EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

Prague, Czechia

The limitation of the use of public procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic under the Directive 2014/24/EU Magdalena Sitek 1 , Bronisław Sitek 2 University of Euroregional Economy in Józefów-Warsaw 1 SWPS University od Social and Humanities Science in Warsaw 2 Faculty of Law Poland e-mail 1, 2 : ms@wsge.edu.pl, bronislaw.sitek@gmail.com Abstract The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, commonly known as COVID -19, that has been spreading since the beginning of 2020, paralyzed the functioning of society, state authorities and, above all, the health service. The need to obtain the means and services necessary to combat the effects of the pandemic has resulted in the introduction of appropriate legal regulations regarding the public procurement system. Their usual application would not allow quick decisions to be made regarding the execution of the necessary orders. The subject of the study is an analysis of the provisions of EU law and Polish, Italian, and Spanish regulation in terms of possible flexibility of the public procurement regime in connection with the pandemic. The main issue which requires a solution is the compliance of national legal regulations introduced before 31 March 2020, that is until the publication of the European Commission’s communication (2020 /c 108 I /01). The research is carried out using the descriptive method, the dogmatic exegesis of legal provisions and a comparative and legal analysis of the solutions in question. In the final conclusions, the authors point out that despite the difficult situation caused by the pandemic, there was no need to introduce new solutions in both the EU and Member States’ regulations. It was enough to properly apply the provisions of Directive 2004/18 / EC. Keywords: public procurement, COVID-19 pandemic, public procurement announcement, European Union law, laws of the Member States. JEL Classification: K12, K210 1. Introduction The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus significantly slowed down the economy, stopped education, social life, and caused changes in the way people work. The lockdown introduced in most countries in the world has forced the introduction, by governments and authorities of international organizations,

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