BusinessEurope's views on an international procurement instrument

Key messages

• Public procurement is an important engine for growth in the EU economy. While considered one of the most open procurement markets in the world, this is often not reciprocated by the EU’s trading partners. The core objective of the International Procurement Instrument (IPI) should be to give leverage to the European Commission to open up third-country public procurement markets.
• To become an efficient tool, the IPI investigations and consultations with third countries should take place in a timely manner. The instrument should also ensure in an effective way that bidders from locked-up third countries which are often heavily relying on subsidies do not distort the EU’s public procurement market.
• The efforts of the EU institutions should be concentrated on making sure that no additional burden is created for EU companies. This applies in particular in the most technically complex areas of the regulation, such as provisions of the IPI referring to the origin of goods, the shaping of foreseen penalties and agreeing on a threshold for the IPI.