The European Commission has set new thresholds regarding the value of public procurement and concession contracts which entered into force on 1 January 2016. Therefore:
1. The Commission delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2170 of 24 November 2015 amended the Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and the following amounts (thresholds) were set as starting points for the implementation of the Directive:
– for the public procurement of works: the amount ‘EUR 5 186 000’ is replaced by ‘EUR 5 225 000’
– for the public procurement of goods and services awarded by central government authorities and the project contests organized by such authorities: the amount ‘EUR 134 000’ is replaced by ‘EUR 135 000’
– for the public procurement of goods and services awarded by regional and local contracting authorities and the project contests organized by such authorities: the amount ‘EUR 207 000’ is replaced by ‘EUR 209 000’
– for the works contracts which are subsidized directly by contracting authorities by more than 50 % and which include civil engineering activities or building work for hospitals, facilities intended for sports, recreation and leisure, school and university buildings and buildings used for administrative purposes: the amount ‘EUR 5 186 000’ is replaced by ‘EUR 5 225 000’
– for the works contracts which are subsidized directly by contracting authorities by more than 50 % and which are connected to a works contract as referred to in the previous point: the amount ‘EUR 207 000’ is replaced by ‘EUR 209 000’
2. The Commission delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2171 of 24 November 2015 amended Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and the following values (thresholds) were set as starting points for the implementation of the Directive regarding the public procurement of utilities (the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors):
– for the public procurement of goods and services and for the project contests: the amount ‘EUR 414 000’ is replaced by ‘EUR 418 000’
– for the public procurement of works: the amount ‘EUR 5 186 000’ is replaced by ‘EUR 5 225 000’
3. The Commission delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2172 of 24 November 2015 amended Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the award of concession contracts and the following value (threshold) was set as a starting point for the implementation of the Directive:
– the amount ‘EUR 5 186 000’ is replaced by ‘EUR 5 225 000’
It is worth stating that all the aforementioned amounts exclude VAT and that all the Directives need to be transposed until 18 April 2016, at the latest. Romania is on the way of fulfilling the obligation to transpose the Directive. The draft legislation regarding public procurement, respectively the sector-specific procurement are presently at the Senate and shall be subjected to debate in due time.
In addition, according to art. 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the regulations shall be binding in their entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
While the old Directives are still applicable and until the new Directives will be transposed at a national level, the Commission has set thresholds identical with the ones stated above, via the Regulations (EU) 2015/2342 (for Directive 2004/18/EC), 2015/2341 (for Directive 2004/17/EC), 2015/2340 (for Directive 2009/81/EC).
At the same time, by means of the Communication no. 2015/C418/01 from the European Commission (for the threshold applicable to the old Directives) and the Communication no. 2015/C392/01 from the European Commission (for the new Directives), the corresponding amounts of the thresholds have been established in the national currencies other than euros (including the Romanian “leu”) .
:: The Source: JURIDICE.ro
