Public procurement pushes towards allies – Newspaper Kommersant No. 154 (7355) of 08/24/2022

The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) intends to unify approaches to public procurement in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which will ensure equal access to their national markets. To do this, it is proposed to update the rules for procurement procedures in the agreement on the EAEU in accordance with digital capabilities. In parallel, the commission proposes to synchronize the implementation of digital solutions, for example, registers of goods and manufacturers, as well as bank guarantees in electronic form in the countries of the union. However, the application of innovations by countries will remain voluntary – the adjustment of union regulation should only bring the development of national procurement laws closer together.

As it became known to Kommersant, the EEC Board approved a list of measures for the full digitalization of public procurement in the EAEU countries. The issue was considered yesterday as part of the implementation of strategic directions for the development of Eurasian economic integration until 2025 and measures to increase the stability of the economies of the EAEU member countries. The countries of the Union, we recall, have long stated that with the declared equal access to procurement, in practice, the possibilities of counterparties from the EAEU are limited due to different requirements of national legislation.

Thus, suppliers complained about artificial barriers due to the inability to obtain guarantees from national banks and the lack of mutual recognition of electronic digital signatures (see Kommersant dated January 18, 2021). The EEC document contains a clause on finalizing the functionality of electronic trading platforms for working with electronic digital signatures. This item is also included in the plan of measures for the mutual recognition of EDS (see “Kommersant” dated October 12, 2021). In addition, yesterday’s decision contains four more groups of procurement measures. In particular, this is the formation of a legal basis for competitive procurement in electronic format, which will require amendments to the agreement on the EAEU dated May 29, 2014. Until the end of 2022, the commission will only have to “work out the question of the appropriateness” of such amendments. As Pavel Zhukovsky, Deputy Head of the Department for Competition Policy and Public Procurement Policy of the EEC, explained to Kommersant, elaboration was required to clarify the wording, after which a draft amendment would be prepared.

The issue of automating the admission of suppliers of one state to participate in the procurement of others will also require study. Two more blocks of measures are to be worked out until July 2023 and require practical changes from the EAEU countries – this is improving the functionality of electronic platforms (in terms of reporting, automating the qualification of participants and maintaining registers of contracts, complaints and unscrupulous suppliers) and creating new information systems (register of bank guarantees , catalogs of standardized goods, a register of goods and their manufacturers, monitoring of collusive purchases). “Which of these digital innovations to implement, countries will decide for themselves, taking into account their own needs – this is a voluntary story. It is important for us to outline a single trajectory of changes and collect the best practices that exist in the EAEU,” explains Mr. Zhukovsky.

According to a member of the Board, Minister for Competition and Antimonopoly Regulation of the EEC Arman Shakkaliev, a working group of representatives of the authorized bodies and operators of trading systems will be created to implement the measures. The Minister expects that the document will provide full access for suppliers of all EAEU countries to participate in each other’s purchases. However, the military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine and the sanctions it caused created a new problem in this area: although the Eurasian business has long sought the formation of equal access to national procurement, now the involvement of companies from the EAEU in deliveries for the Russian Federation (the largest market in the EAEU) is complicated by incomplete convertibility ruble, while it has not yet been possible to agree on the transition to the national currencies of the EAEU.

Diana Galieva