EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

Prague, Czechia

5. The limitation of the use of public procurement in Spain due to the COVID-19 pandemic Spain was one of the European Union countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The first confirmed cases of the SARS-CoV-2 virus were found on 31 January 2020 in the Canary Islands (Gonera Island). In the second half of February 2020, a significant number of cases had already been reported, which must have caused concern among the state authorities. For this reason, two royal decrees with the force of law were issued in March 2020. The first regulation was the Decree 463/2020 of 14 March which announced a state of emergency for a period of 15 days (BOE No. 67, 14 March 2020). The second was the Royal Decree 8/2020 of 17 March on Emergency Measures to Cope with the Economic and Social Impact of COVID-19 (BOE No. 73 de 18 March 2020). The response of the Spanish authorities to the spreading pandemic was relatively late. The preamble to the royal decree mentions the World Health Organization’s statement of 11 March which unequivocally stated the COVID-19 pandemic. This statement highlighted the negative economic and social impact of the pandemic. Thus, not only the increasing number of cases in Spain, but also the position of the WHO became an impulse for legislative action. In the Royal Decree 8/2020, instructions regarding social and institutional support were introduced. Thus, Chapter One of the decree covers support for workers, families, and vulnerable groups caused by the pandemic. Chapter two sets out the necessary measures to make the temporary adjustment mechanisms more flexible in order to avoid redundancies. The Spanish legislature considered the COVID-19 pandemic a force majeure. Companies and enterprises have been exempted from paying 75% of social security contributions. In the third chapter, financial resources were established in the state budget to guarantee the liquidity of operations of enterprises in the pandemic and economic situation. The introduction of financial and legal instruments to promote scientific research on the COVID-19 virus to develop effective drugs and vaccines was an important element of the Royal Decree 8/2020. Scientists could work overtime. In the last, sixth chapter, appropriate legal regulations concerning the application of the provisions of the public procurement law were introduced in order to facilitate the conclusion of contracts (de Brujón, 2020, pp. 37–41). In the Article 34 of the Royal Decree 8/2020, the issue of the implementation of the subject of public procurement during the pandemic was mainly regulated. The legislature stated that the implementation of contracts concluded under the public procurement procedure, which cannot be performed due to the pandemic, are suspended in whole or in part. The contracting authority must cover the damages resulting from the suspension of the public procurement. This solution

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