Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)"
Date: 2001-11-28
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: award of contract, public contract, single market, standardisation, terminology

21.2.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 48/9

‘The communication (1) is part of the process of updating
competition policy law. The Committee highlights the
major improvements over the previous communication:
the establishment of “categories”, the raising of existing

(1) Communication from the Commission relating to the revision of
the 1997 notice on agreements of minor importance not covered
by the provisions of Article 81(1) of the EC Treaty — SEC(2001)
747 final.

thresholds,
improved legal certainty.

the establishment of a new threshold,

The Committee calls for further thought to be given
to the concept of “relevant market”, and for further
simplification of the categories of agreement giving rise
to hardcore restrictions of competition policy and greater
uniformity in the leeway allowed in the event of the
market share laid down being exceeded.’

Brussels, 28 November 2001.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)’

(2002/C 48/03)

On 15 September 2001 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 47(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 21 November 2001. The rapporteur was
Mr Herna´ndez Bataller.

At its 386th plenary session of 28 and 29 November 2001 (meeting of 28 November), the Economic and
Social Committee unanimously adopted the following opinion.

1.

Introduction

1.1.
In 1996 the Commission adopted a recommen-
dation (1) on the use of the Common Procurement Vocabulary
(CPV) (2) for describing the subject of contracts.

1.2.
In its Green Paper entitled ‘Public procurement in
the European Union: exploring the way forward’ (3),
the
Commission invited all interested parties to state their views
on the appropriateness of making use of the CPV more
widespread. The Committee had previously expressed its views
on the subject in an opinion adopted unanimously on 28 May
1997 (4), which referred to the need to simplify the Community
legal
to the electronic age and
it
highlighted problems in the area of access to information.

framework and adapt

(1) OJ L 222, 3.9.1996, pp. 10-12.
(2) The CPV consists of a main vocabulary for defining the subject of
a contract, and a supplementary vocabulary for adding further
qualitative information. The main vocabulary is based on a five-
level hierarchical structure, while the supplementary vocabulary
has two levels. A wording describing the supplies, works or
services in all the official languages is associated with each code.

(3) COM(96) 583 final, 27.11.1996.
(4) Opinion on the Green Paper, rapporteur: Mr Malosse; OJ C 287,

22.9.1997, p. 2.

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1.3.
As part of the consultation process, in its Communi-
cation on public procurement in the European Union (1), the
Commission encouraged contracting authorities to use the
CPV and the standard forms when drawing up their notices
and to use the possibilities afforded by the new information
and communication technologies for transmitting them.

1.4.
Since 1996, the CPV has been systematically used, in
accordance with the directives, in all contract notices published
in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European
Communities for identifying the subject of contracts, and for
automatic translation into the other official languages of the
Community. The CPV has thus become the central search
criterion used by potential tenderers for selecting and ident-
ifying possible contracts.

1.5.
Under the public procurement directives, the classifi-
cations are used for three different purposes: describing the
subjects of contracts in notices, meeting statistical obligations
and defining fields of application. Hitherto, the Directives have
referred to four different classifications (2). The proposed
revisions currently under discussion (3) replace these four
In recent opinions on these
classifications by the CPV.
proposals, the Committee has expressed the view that these
classifications are an improvement on the CPA and NACE
classifications, since they are better adapted to the specific
nature of the public procurement sector (4).

2. Proposal for a regulation

To date, the CPV has had no proper legal basis in the
2.1.
form of a regulation clearly defining the rules to be observed
when drafting or updating it. This regulation aims to fill this
gap by adopting the CPV formally as the Community system
for classifying public contracts.

2.2.
The aim of the proposal, then, is to create a classifi-
cation system applicable to all public contracts at Community
level.

2.3.
A regulation is proposed as the legal instrument, since
the establishment of a classification system for public contracts
does not require implementation by the Member States.

2.4.
The annex to the regulation includes tables showing
the correspondence between the CPV and the CPA, CPC prov.,
NACE and CN.

2.5.
The regulation lays down maintenance and revision
procedures as part of the implementing powers conferred on
the Commission, assisted by the Advisory Committee on
Public Contracts.

3. General remarks

3.1.
The Committee fully supports the Commission pro-
posal, considering it essential to the establishment of a single
classification system for all public contracts in the European
Union.

3.2.
The ESC wishes to ensure that public tender procedures
are more transparent and that information is more readily
available. It welcomes moves to ensure that information can
be read and understood easily, since the CPV allows for
immediate comparison between the information in tender
notices, regardless of the language in which it was originally
published.

3.3.
The proposal is positive for European businesses, since
it does not place them under any new obligations, but gives
them a new common and multilingual reference tool that will
facilitate access to contract notices. It will enable businesses to
identify suitable opportunities more accurately, which may
open up new markets.

3.4.1.
The ESC calls on the Council and Parliament to step
up the pace of the work on adoption of the proposal as far as
is possible so that the necessary changes in this area can be
made, and asks that discussion focus on the classifications
rather than reopening the debate on other areas contained
in the proposals on amending the directives on public
procurement, such as, for example, the annexes on services.

3.4.2.
It is to be welcomed that a series of complementary
measures in the area of public procurement has already been
including Directive 2001/78/EC on the use of
approved,
standard forms in the publication of public contract notices (5).

(1) COM(98) 143 final, 11.3.1998.
(2) CPA, NACE, CPC Prov. (Provisional Central Product Classification)

and CN (Combined Nomenclature).

(3) OJ C 29E, 30.1.2001, pp. 11-12.
(4) Opinion on public contracts, rapporteur Mr Green, OJ C 193,

10.7.2001, p. 1 and p. 7.

(5) OJ L 125, 29.10.2001, p. 1.

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3.4.3.
The ESC is in favour of simplifying the rules on the
publication of contract notices and adapting them to electronic
systems developed in connection with the SIMAP (public
procurement
launched by the Com-
mission working together with the Member States. In this
connection, the use of standard forms and a common vocabu-
lary will facilitate access to information and help to make
tender procedures more transparent.

information system)

3.5.
already exist or are in development. For this reason,

Internationally, various private classification systems
it is

important that there is a single classification system for public
contracts (the CPV) in use in the European Union, and it is
conceivable that its use in third countries might be proposed
in the framework of the WTO negotiations on the grounds
that its adoption would lead to simplification and transparency
of information.

3.6.
A particular virtue of the revision procedure proposed
is that it could be based on the suggestions and comments of
future direct users of the CPV.

Brussels, 28 November 2001.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘European Charter for Small Enterprises’

(2002/C 48/04)

On 13 September 2001 the Economic and Social Committee, acting under Rule 23 (2) of its Rules of
Procedure, decided to draw up an additional opinion on the European Charter for Small Enterprises.

The Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 21 November 2001. The rapporteur was
Mr Giron.

At its 386th plenary session of 28 and 29 November 2001 (meeting of 28 November), the Economic and
Social Committee adopted the following opinion with 111 votes in favour and three abstentions.

1.

Introduction

The European Parliament strongly endorsed the
1.1.1.
in its report on the Multiannual Programme
Charter and,
for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship,
it stressed that small
enterprises, micro-enterprises and craft firms make a signifi-
cant contribution to competitiveness, research and innovation
and have a crucial role to play in strengthening social cohesion
and spatial planning, particularly in rural and urban areas and
urban conurbations.

1.1.
In its opinions of 24 May 2000 and 31 May 2001, the
Committee set out its views on the relevance and merits of the
European Charter for Small Enterprises (the ‘Charter’), adopted
by the Feira European Council in June 2000 at the conclusion
of the Portuguese Council presidency. On that occasion, the
Council acknowledged that small businesses are the backbone
of the European economy and European employment. Among
other things, the Council underlined the need for specific
policies that are less general than those lumped together under
a generic definition of SMEs.

However, more than a year after the Charter was
1.2.
adopted, most of its recommendations appear to be a dead
letter. The Charter, which is specifically intended for small