Government Decree 676/2020 (XII. 28.) on special rules for public procurement procedures for public catering

Published on January 18, 2022

Before the regulation is published, public procurement procedures for catering were decided solely on the basis of price. During the public procurement process, the environmental, quality and sustainability aspects of the Public Procurement Directive 2014/24 / EU were less enforced. However, according to the government decree, the contracting authority cannot apply the lowest price criterion. In addition, evaluation criteria specifically applicable to public catering have been defined, which will facilitate the implementation of catering that also takes into account quality and sustainability aspects: introduction of a short supply chain for public catering, implementation of the shortest possible delivery time, more favorable ratio of organic and labeled products.

The regulation defines the concept of a local food product and the catering short supply chain (catering SSC).

Local food product:

a product labeled as required by the procedure, or

legislation on the conditions of production and sale of food by small producers, or product produced by a small producer in accordance with the rules laid down by the Member State pursuant to Article 1 (4) regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the council laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin.

Label required by the procedure: Designations of origin or geographical indications under Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs and indication under the national quality system referred to in Article 16 (1) (b) of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005.

Catering short supply chain: No more than one intermediate actor in the food supply chain shall be involved in the food supply chain between the primary producer or food business operator and the catering operator.

According to the regulation, 60% of the raw materials which used in public catering must come from local food products and the catering short supply chain from 1 January 2022. From 1 January 2023. this proportion will be 80%.

The duration of the public catering service contracts has been maximized to 2 years, which can be extended once for two years.