The New Public Procurement Directives: A Partial Solution to the Problems of Procurement Compliance

As with much EU regulation, the EU public procurement directives fail to achieve the ambitious targets in market liberalisation and economic efficiency which were anticipated. This article examines the new EU directives on public sector and utilities procurement. It argues that while the new directives go some way to addressing the technical weaknesses inherent in the old directives this can only provide a partial solution to the problems of procurement compliance. Effective implementation requires a change in the culture of public procurement with greater understanding of the rules and, most importantly, greater acceptance of the benefits of regulatory compliance.