EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

Prague, Czechia

Polish, Italian, and Spanish legislatures in relation to the EU regulations. The analysis of the Italian and Spanish systems is justified by the fact that both countries had the highest incidence of COVID-19 in the European Union. 2. Communication from the European Commission 2020 / c 108 I / 01 The increase of morbidity and mortality curve of people infected with the SARS CoV-2 virus was the direct reason for the European Commission to issue on 1 st April 2020 a Communication providing guidance on the application of the public procurement framework in the context of the COVID-19 crisis (2020 / c 108 I / 01). With this communication, the European Union introduced a more flexible application of the public procurement regime. The basic question which arises in this perspective concerns the compliance of the communication with Directive 2014/24 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement, repealing Directive 2005/18 / EC. The solutions contained in the communication regulated issues related to the growing demand for personal protection equipment, such as protective masks and gloves, and medical devices, in particular respirators and other medical supplies (Goniewicz et al. , 2020, p. 3838). Moreover, there was a need to strengthen the hospital and IT infrastructure. In many places, temporary hospitals have been created or there has been a need to adapt existing facilities to medical needs. The expansion of the IT infrastructure was of great importance in the period of the growth of the infection curve, without which it would not have been possible, for example, to control the quarantine of millions of EU inhabitants (Sanchez Graells, 2020, pp. 81–87). The announcement stated that the COVID-19 outbreak was an unpredictable phenomenon which had significantly disrupted the supply chain of the aforementioned medical products and services. According to the European Commission, it may be physically or technically impossible to apply the normal procedures provided for in the Directive 2014/24 / EU in these extraordinary and unforeseeable circumstances. For these reasons, the European Commission in the communication indicated the possibility of using public buyers: • establishing contacts by phone with potential contractors, both from the EU and from outside the EU, as well as using e-mail or personal contacts, • employing intermediaries who have better contacts in the markets for materials and services necessary to combat the pandemic, • sending its own representatives directly to third countries where the necessary stocks exist and which can ensure immediate delivery, • asking potential suppliers to increase production or restart production.

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