Four EU Procurement Directives have been adopted by the EU Commission and Parliament, and were published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 28 March 2014.
The Directives are:
- EU Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU – on public contracts
- EU Procurement Directive 2014/23/EU – on the award of concession contracts
- EU Procurement Directive 2014/25/EU – on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors
- EU Procurement Directive 2014/55/EU – for electronic invoicing in public procurement
The aim of the Directives is to ensure that public purchases are made in the most rational, transparent and fair manner in order to increase the efficiency of public spending and enable small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in public procurement.
Member States must transpose – or implement – the Directives into national law by 18 April 2016.