Brussels, 27/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 27 September, the European Commission decided to refer four member states (Poland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Slovenia) to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to fully implement the Directive 2009/81/EC governing procurement in the defence and security sectors. This directive, however, has been in application since August 2010.
Taking into account the length of time of the infringement, its seriousness and the size of the country concerned, the Commission proposes a daily penalty payment of €70,561.92 for Poland, €57,324.80 for the Netherlands, €8,320 for Luxembourg and €7,038.72 for Slovenia, which would have to be paid from the date of the Court's affirmative ruling until the member states concerned notify the Commission that they have fully implemented the rules into national law.
Poland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have not yet notified to the Commission any national implementing measures. Slovenia has only notified part of the required provisions.
Poland still under scrutiny. Warsaw will also receive a reasoned opinion regarding a provision in its public procurement code that the Commission considers to be an infringement of European directives. Polish legislation systematically excludes economic operators who caused damage by failing to perform a contract or by performing a contract improperly from contract award procedures, if this damage was the object of a court decision in the three years prior to the launch of the tender procedure. Moreover, Polish law provides for the compulsory exclusion of any contractor whose contract was terminated by the contracting authority for reasons falling under the contractor's responsibility, if the value of the non-executed part of the contract amounted to at least 5% of the contract. In the Commission's view, these provisions go beyond the exhaustive catalogue of acceptable grounds for exclusion for reasons relating to the professional qualities of a contractor, as provided for in European law. (MB/trans.fl)