Brussels, 09/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is proposing that Member States adopt a Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) as the only classification system used for public procurement in the Union. Universal use of the CPV would, according to the Commission, present many advantages. It would guarantee accurate identification of the subject matter of contracts, allow for automatic translation to tender notices into all official Community languages, enable potential suppliers to easily identify and select those procurement opportunities which are of most interest to them in any of the Member states, and thereby contribute to promoting openness and transparency in European public procurement. In addition, the CPV would help simplify execution of statistical obligations and thereby facilitate the task of adjudicating and national authorities. At international level, it would allow for better comparison of data established on the basis of other nomenclatures used in the signatory States of the Procurement Markets Agreement.
The draft regulation to Parliament and the Council, presented by the Commission in view of establishing this CPV and of organising updating procedures depending on market developments, was prepared by the services of Frtis Bolkestein, European Commissioner responsible for the Internal Market. It aims to replace the four nomenclatures to which Community law applicable to public procurement procedures refer to, which are: CPA (Classification statistique des Produits associées aux Activités), NACE (Nomenclature des Activités economiques dans la Communauté Européenne); CPC Prov (Central Public Classification); CN (Combined nomenclature). This initiative is part of a package of measures aimed at simplifying and modernising the directives on procurement markets. Reference to the CPV would have no impact on the scope of the directives.
In a press release, Commissioner Bolkestein declares: "Adoption of this proposal would be another important step towards opening up public procurement markets to greater transparency, competition and efficiency. Obligatory use of the CPV would help suppliers to easily find and understand public contract opportunities across the EU, no matter what language the original tender notice was written in. Replacing four different nomenclatures with one common vocabulary would reduce errors, simplify procedures and make easier the comparison of different markets across the world. The CPV has been developed as a result of an unprecedented consultation exercise with the private and public sectors throughout the EU".