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Buying Green? How a Green Public Procurement-Dedicated Law Can Do More Harm than Good

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Europeanization of Environmental Policies and their Limitations

Abstract

Green public procurement (GPP) is an internationally acknowledged environmental policy tool, although its scale is different depending on the country. Meanwhile, states seeking to buy products, services, and works randomly, and its application are instead the effect of the environmental legislation changes. Although Romania is the only country in Europe with a dedicated law on GPP, it has neither a national action plan for GPP nor a monitoring system in place. Nevertheless, there are no studies that scrutinized the reasons for the lag behind. The present study examines the evolution of the GPP public policy in Romania, the effects of the GPP law on using environmental criteria in tenders, and measures the GPP uptake to assess the policy success or failure. The analysis concludes that there was only an approximately 10% progress in GPP uptake in the last 10 years, making this policy more a failure than a success, caused by unclear legislation and flawed design policy and implementation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 20 September 1988. – Gebroeders Beentjes BV v State of the Netherlands. – Reference for a preliminary ruling: Arrondissementsrechtbank’ s-Gravenhage – Netherlands. – Procedure for the award of public works contracts. – Case 31/87 and Case C-255/98, Commission of the European Communities v. the French Republic, judgment of 26.9.2000, School buildings Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region (ECR 2000, I-7445)

  2. 2.

    Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 31, 2004, coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport, and postal services sectors, and Directive 2004/18/EC 18 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 31, 2004, on the coordination of procedures for the award of public work contracts, public supply contracts, and public service contracts

  3. 3.

    Although possible to be included in the tender documentation, the environmental and social considerations were considered of secondary importance the light being shed on the importance of compliance with the best value for money principle and with the principles of the internal market.

  4. 4.

    The Commission will propose further legislation and guidance on green public purchasing. To support the EU’s ecological transition, the EU’s trade policy will further facilitate the trade and investment in green goods and services and promote climate-friendly public procurement.

  5. 5.

    Government Emergency Ordinance no. 60/2001 regarding the public procurements, the public goods concession contracts regime (Law no. 219/1998), and Government Ordinance no. 20/2002 concerning the electronic public procurement system and public-private partnership contracts regulated by the Government Ordinance no. 16/2002

  6. 6.

    Order no. 1068/1652/2018 comprising the minimum criteria for the environment protection for a certain category of goods and services required within the tender book

  7. 7.

    The Ministry of Environment Waters and Forests and the Nord East Regional Development Agency from Romania are partners in an important European project called GPP Stream that generated the Guide’s creation. The project aims “to improve the management, implementation, and monitoring of policy instruments that integrate GPP approaches to ensure that resource efficiency gains can be maximized and that resource efficiency objectives are institutionalized through GPP.” The project is coordinated by Region Friuli and is implemented in partnership with eight Bulgarian, Spanish, French, Italian, and Romanian bodies with complementary environmental and GPP expertise. According to the official website of the project, the outcomes will be 5 transnational learning events, at least 300 stakeholders involved, 13 GPP webinars, and 5 GPP toolkits, and 1 online platform and 8 policy instruments from 5 EU countries will integrate GPP approaches; 40 EU policy instrument managing authorities apply GPP-STREAM toolkits.

  8. 8.

    at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/eu_gpp_criteria_en.htm- accessed on June 15, 2019

  9. 9.

    The Order no. 1068/1652/2018 for the approval of the Green Procurement Guide that sets forth the minimum requirements regarding environmental protection for six groups of products and services:

    1. Copy paper and graphic paper – requirements: (i) the paper must be made from fibers of recovered paper, paper recycled, or based on raw fibers, 75% – 100%; (ii) paper does not contain elemental chlorine – “elementary chlorine-free.”

    2. Transportation vehicles – requirements: (i) carbon dioxide – CO2 emissions and the pollution norm.

    3. New interior and exterior furniture renovation/reconditioning and collection and reuse services a stock of furniture at the end of its life cycle:

    3.1. New indoor and outdoor furniture – requirements: (i) legality of the source of origin of the wood; (ii) formaldehyde emissions from wood panels; (iii) list of REACH candidate substances; (iv) suitability for use; (v) design for disassembly and repair; and (vi) product warranty and spare parts

    3.2. Reconditioning services and furniture collection – requirements: (i) furniture renovation/reconditioning; (ii) the guarantee of the renovated furniture product

    3.3. Services for collecting and reusing the stock of furniture at the end life cycle – requirements: (i) collection and reuse of existing furniture stock

    4. Cleaning products and services:

    4.1. Cleaning products (universal detergents; detergents for sanitary installations; window cleaners; detergents and rinsing products for dishwashers; dishwashers for handwashing; laundry detergents and stain removers before washing machines) – requirements: (i) labeling; (ii) packing and dosing

    4.2. Cleaning services – requirements: (i) the cleaning products used in the provision of cleaning services;

    5. Food and catering services:

    5.1 Food – requirements: (i) percentage of products obtained from organic productions; (ii) packing materials; (iii) labeling, packaging, and delivery

    5.2. Catering services – requirements: (i) percentage of products obtained from organic productions; (ii) packing materials; (iii) reducing the generation of waste from packaging

    6. Office IT equipment – requirements: (i) energy performance; (ii) extension of product life; (iii) disposal management (recycling of components and marking plastic cases, supports, and frames); (iv) use of hazardous substances

  10. 10.

    Strategic Use of Public Procurement in Europe – Final Report to the European Commission MARKT/2010/02/C.

  11. 11.

    Until January 2020, pieces of training on GPP were available solely for a small group of public officers from NAPP, the Ministry of Environment, the National Environment Guard, and the N-E Regional Development Agency; therefore, this author has considered that responses received from these public authorities cannot mirror an image of the GPP uptake in Romania that is close to reality.

  12. 12.

    http://sicap-prod.e-licitatie.ro/

  13. 13.

    This is the total number of registered contracting authorities in the Electronic System for Public Procurement (SEAP).

  14. 14.

    https://terramileniultrei.ro/2014/01/5-in-5-ani-achizitii-verzi-pentru-o-economie-verde-2/

  15. 15.

    https://lege5.ro/Gratuit/gmztmobrge/hotararea-nr-45-2012-pentru-acordarea-increderii-guvernului

  16. 16.

    The Government Decision no. 1460/2008 for the approval of the National Strategy for Sustainable development – horizons 2013–2020-2030.

  17. 17.

    http://www.cdep.ro/pls/proiecte/upl_pck.lista?cam=2&anl=2016, PL-x 463/15.06.2015, position 69;

  18. 18.

    Art. 5 and art 6 from the law no. 69/2016 regarding the public procurements https://sintact.ro/#/act/16954917/2?directHit=true&directHitQuery=69~2F2016 – accessed on June 16, 2019.

  19. 19.

    1 euro = 4.8 Romanian lei.

  20. 20.

    https://www.green-report.ro/planul-national-pentru-achizitii-publice-ecologice-costa-160000-de-lei/; https://www.green-report.ro/ministerul-mediului-pregateste-planul-national-de-actiune-pentru-achizitii-publice-ecologice/

  21. 21.

    http://www.mmediu.ro/app/webroot/uploads/files/2016-10 05_mmap_chestionar_privind_achizitiile_publice_verzi.pdf – accessed on August 19, 2019.

  22. 22.

    European Commission (2008a).

  23. 23.

    In older papers dated in 2000 or before.

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Acknowledgments

A very special thanks goes to Arpad Todor for his keen insight and ongoing support in bringing this chapter to completion.

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  1. Faculty of Political Science, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania

    Alina Bilan

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  1. Faculty of Political Science, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania

    Arpad Todor

  2. Institute of Biology Bucharest, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania

    Florenţa Elena Helepciuc

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Bilan, A. (2021). Buying Green? How a Green Public Procurement-Dedicated Law Can Do More Harm than Good. In: Todor, A., Helepciuc, F.E. (eds) Europeanization of Environmental Policies and their Limitations . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68586-7_7

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