According to the mandate, the Committee has been requested to consider if and possibly how environmental aspects can be taken into account in public procurement regulations.Experience shows that procurement of environmentally friendly goods and services often lead to lower whole life costs. If all public contracting entities take environmental aspect into consideration in their procurement, this would have a great influence on the market, and lead to enhanced overall supply of environmentally friendly products and services. Furthermore, the authorities can in this way reduce environmental problems related to their own activities. Today, environmental aspects are only considered as a part of the procurement process in some public entities, depending on individuals' interests and commitments.The majority of the Committee want to emphasise the responsibility of the authorities to motivate public procurement officers to plan the procurement process in such a way that environmental considerations are considered together with the overall objective of economically favourable procurement. Environmental criteria can be used as far as they imply the economically most favourable solution for the contracting entity. This should be regarded as a positive signal to the suppliers to provide new and more environmentally friendly products and services.The majority of the Committee are therefore proposing a new provision in the act on public procurement which states the obligation to integrate a consideration of the environmental consequences in the planning phase of the procurement process. This applies to state contracting entities. It is emphasised that environmental considerations must not violate against the principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination on grounds of nationality.The minority are against a new provision that obliges procurers to take environmental consideration during the planning of the procurement. The minority want to point at the fact that the existing regulations already allow the procurers to take environmental considerations, as far as they contribute to the most economically favourable solution. Further, taking environmental considerations could be in direct conflict with the aim of effective and economically favourable procurements.Even if the act basically is proposed to have overall application, that means covering all public contracting entities (state, local authorities, including the utilities sector), the proposal for a provision on environmental considerations from the majority of the Committee is limited to apply only to state entities. The reason for this is that the local authorities sector is not included in this law revision. The majority of the Committee wish to point out that there is no technical or professional reason why such a provision should not be given general application, which would mean applied to the local authorities and the utilities. The ILO-convention no. 94 regarding employment clauses in public contracts (1949), is proposed complied with in a circular. The reason for this is that the convention only includes subjects over which the Government has instruction power. Further, such solution would be in accordance with the Commissions aim to simplify the regulations. The structure of the existing regulations is complicated. The EEA-regulations and the WTO-agreement are only applied over certain threshold values. State entities are therefore obliged to use different sets of rules over and under the threshold values (international and national rules), and to use different regulations depending on type of procurement. Such a structure does neither appear accessible nor pedagogical. After all, the different sets of rules are all based on the same principles.The Committee proposes one common regulation that applies to procurements both over and under the threshold values as well as all types of procurements. It will to a less extent be necessary to consider whether the procurement is of goods or of services. The proposal does not, however, imply that the rules are fully equal for all types of procurements. This is due to, among other, that Norway through international agreements is obliged to comply with the international rules above the threshold values. Regarding procurements under the threshold values, there are no international obligations except the general principles of the EEA-agreement. This flexibility is attended to by less mandatory rules for procurements which are not covered by the EEA-agreement. Less time- and resource-consuming procedures are thus allowed. It is not in accordance with the mandate to propose regulations for the local authorities sector other than adjustments to the provisions that follow the international agreements. It is, however, the Committee's view that the most convenient solution would have been to have a common regulatory framework for the state and the local authorities.Because of the limitations in the mandate, the proposed regulations are divided into separate parts, which must be complied with depending on whether the contracting entity is a state authority or a local authority.By making the regulations in this way, it becomes clear that all procurements, no matter the value, shall be based on the same fundamental considerations.
Forarbeid