Transactional Talk: Soft law in EU defence procurement regulation

In the this Transactional Talk, Prof. Martin Trybus (University of Birmingham) will present his work on the use of soft law by the European Commission in defence procurement regulation. 

Defence remains largely the domain of the Member States and the Common Security and Defence Policy. Nevertheless the EU legislator enacted in 2009 the Defence and Security Procurement Directive, in which it adapted the rules of the ‘civilian’ Public Sector Procurement Directive to the needs of the defence sector. This binding hard law instrument aims to facilitate an EU Internal Market for defence goods. 

Since the Directive’s enactment the European Commission has issued various “guidance notes” on topics such its field of application, exclusions, participation of small and medium-sized enterprises, and cooperative procurement. All these post-2009 instruments qualify as soft law: they are not legally binding and can thus not directly be enforced, while they can still have legal effects. 

Prof. Trybus’ paper will test the existing EU soft law on defence procurement against the EU legislative standards of legitimacy, effectiveness, and transparency, and makes recommendations towards the improvement of this soft law in view of these standards.  

The presentation will be followed by reflections on the topic by RENFORCE-members Linda Senden and Bram Vroege.