Public Procurement and Property

Public procurement – Changes to Scottish procurement legislation to give effect to the Free Trade Agreement between the UK and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway: SPPN 4/2022

August 9, 2022 by Fiona McCaig No Comments | Category Scottish Procurement

We have published a new Scottish Procurement Policy Note 4/2022, to inform of changes to procurement legislation that have arisen from the passing of The Public Procurement (International Trade Agreements) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (“the ITA Regulations 2022”).

The UK was previously bound by the procurement obligations applicable under EEA EFTA through its European Union membership. The UK signed the EFTA agreement on 8 July 2021 as a party in its own right. The ITA Regulations 2022 came into force on 27 June 2022 and updated the UK’s procurement regulations, including Scottish regulations, to give effect to the procurement obligations within the EFTA agreement.

Changes to the Scottish Regulations made by the ITA Regulations 2022 do not require a change to the way that procurement exercises are currently undertaken. The changes are largely technical in nature and do not impact on procurement procedures which remain fundamentally unchanged.

The effect of the agreement means that Scottish public bodies cannot give less favourable treatment to suppliers of the EFTA member countries. The same applies to public bodies of the EFTA member countries and Scottish suppliers. The coverage afforded under this agreement is largely similar to the previous EFTA agreement the UK was party to as a member of the European Union, with some exceptions including in respect of health services.

To find out more about Public Procurement in Scotland, please visit www.gov.scot/procurement

Follow us online:

Tags: public sector, Scottish Government procurement, Scottish Procurement Policy Note, Scottish public sector, SPPN

Comments