Smart public procurement and labour standards: pushing the discussion after RegioPost

Smart procurement aims to leverage public buying power in pursuit of social, environmental and innovation goals.

Socially-orientated smart procurement has been a controversial issue under EU law.

The extent to which the Court of Justice (ECJ) has supported or rather constrained its development has been intensely debated by academics and practitioners alike.

After the slow development of a seemingly permissive approach, the ECJ case law reached an apparent turning point a decade ago in the often criticised judgments in Rüffert and Laval, which left a number of open questions.

The more recent judgments in Bundesdruckerei and RegioPost have furthered the ECJ case law on socially-orientated smart procurement and aimed to clarify the limits within which Member States can use it to enforce labour standards.