Institute of European Law Director Professor Martin Trybus addressed the International Public Procurement Conference
In a session on 'game changer' case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union, Prof. Trybus gave the opening lecture in which he focussed on the 2024 decision in Kolin in which the Court held that companies from countries outside the EU and EEA which do not have trade agreements with the EU that include the mutual opening of procurement markets should be treated less favourably than bidders from countries with such trade agreements.
He argued that this will be difficult for contracting authorities to implement in practice other than by completely excluding such bidders. This will have a considerable impact on countries like Hungary or Poland where for example construction companies from China or Turkey are regularly bidding for public contracts.
A panel of experts consisting of Dr. Márta Várhomoki-Molnár (Head of the Public Procurement Regulatory Department, Ministry of Public Administration and Regional Development, National Development Centre, Hungary), Dr. Katarzyna Kuźma (Partner, Head of the Public Procurement Team Infrastructure & Energy Practice Law firm DZP, Poland), and Dr. Gabriella Fribiczer (Chief Public Procurement Expert, Integrity Authority, Hungary) discussed the case law with Professor Trybus and the conference at large. The participants hailed from contracting authorities across Hungary.
Professor of European Law and Policy
Birmingham Law School
Academic profile of Professor Martin Trybus, Professor of European Law and Policy, Director of the Institute for European Law at Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham
