Cabinet of Ministers regulation on Requirements for Green Public Procurement and procedures for applications

Published on October 14, 2019

The objective of promoting the green procurement is to reduce the environmental impact of products, services, and works that are purchased in public procurement's throughout the entire life cycle thereof, at the same time contributing to environmentally friendly development of product and service market and increasing the competitive capacity of the local economy.The regulatory instrument determines the requirements and criteria for green public procurement and procedures for application. The purpose is to create the rules for GPP implementation, monitoring, assessment, by determining the groups of products, services where GPP application is mandatory (Annex 1 of the regulation) and voluntary (Annex 2 of the regulation) as well as the methodology for calculation of Life cycle costs for energy consuming products

According to the regulation, the flowing sustainability principles shall apply during the design of the procurement and implementation of the contract. - More environmentally friendly procurement — environmental and human health protection considerations must be integrated in the general public procurement practice along with safety, price, performance indicators, and accessibility of a product, service or works. - Prevention of damage — environment protection considerations must be complied with from the start of the procurement process, attempting to prevent or minimize the potential hazard to the environment and human health in due time; - Life cycle thinking — the impact caused by a product, service or works on the environment must be considered in the life cycle thereof, from the origin, production, supply, and use of raw materials to disposal of products and utilization thereof. Costs must be considered from the aspect of product purchase costs, but taking into account also the costs related to the use, maintenance, and the end of life cycle thereof. - Environmental impact comparison — the most significant impact must be considered in view of the extent of the harm caused to the environment and human health, reversibility, geographical properties, and other factors; - Information on environmental protection measures — the requirements and criteria which are applied in the public procurement for the reduction of the environmental impact caused by products, services or works must be precisely formulated and objective, indicating proper conformity control methods.