ABSTRACT
Attempts to regulate public procurement in the European Community were recorded even before the end of the first transitional period. 1 For the purposes of giving guidance to Community Institutions and Member States in the implementation of Articles 52, 53 EC (right of establishment) and 59, 60 EC (freedom to provide services), in 1962 the Council of Ministers adopted two General Programmes 2 for the elimination of existing restrictions on inter-state trade. Among the restrictions to be abolished were rules and practices of Member States which ‘...exclude, limit or impose conditions upon the capacity to submit offers or to participate as main contractors or subcontractors in contract awards by the State or legal persons governed by public law ‘. Those rules and practices resulted in blunt discrimination based on nationality grounds and practically fragmented the entire common market in relation to public procurement. Both Programmes envisaged a gradual and balanced removal of restrictions in the form of quotas and the co-ordination of national procedures for the award of public contracts to nationals of other Member States through agencies or branches or directly to persons or undertakings established in other Member States.
