In 2010, SAPIENS lead researcher Professor Mario Comba wrote a chapter titled “Green and Social Considerations in Public Procurement Contracts: A Comparative Approach.” The chapter was published in the book The Law of Green and Social Pocurement in Europe, which was edited by SAPIENS lead researchers Professors Roberto Caranta and Martin Trybus. The book explores “how and to what extent the national laws of a number of Member States have tried to accommodate European rules and principles” regarding social public procurement. 

Abstract book

This publication is the second in the European Procurement Law Series. European institutions have developed common principles and rules which are applicable all over the EU. While in some cases rules and practice from some Member States may have influenced the developments of public procurement law at EU level, European provisions will more often be divergent from the rules previously in force in most Member States. Once they penetrate the domestic legal orders, the sources of European law interact with national law. The series will explore how and to what extent the national laws of a number of Member States have tried to accommodate European rules and principles.

The main objective of public procurement regulation is to provide the government with the supplies, services, and works it needs to operate. This primary objective is connected to the principle of value for money and for the European Union with the aim to ensure the functioning of the internal market in public procurement. However, other objectives related to environmental and social concerns have always played a role as well. These range from the award of contracts to workshops for the disabled to strict environmental specifications. These ‘secondary’ or ‘horizontal’ objectives, also referred to as ‘green procurement’, ‘sustainable procurement’ or ‘social procurement’, are the subject of this book. The analysis covers the European Union internal market law of green and social procurement with emphasis on the interpretation, implementation and practice in a range of Member States of the EU and includes a comparative study. 

The full article is now available online.