On 9 September 2026, the European Commission introduced a new legislative proposal that aims to bring a significant reform to the EU public procurement law. Instead of the existing fragmented framework based on three separate directives from 2014, the Commission a single regulation directly applicable in all Member States. Legal and industry experts consider this to be the most significant structural shift in EU public procurement in the past thirty years, making a decisive transition away from minimum harmonization toward maximum uniformity.
From the standpoint of legal and corporate practice, the shift from a directive to a regulation is crucial. This step aims to remove the need for national transposition and introduces a uniform set of legal rules across the entire Union for all public contracts exceeding the statutory financial thresholds. The objective is to standardize procurement procedures and definitively eliminate national fragmentation and gold-plating which have so far significantly complicated cross-border participation in procurement procedures for suppliers. In the Czech context, the adoption of this regulation would mean largely replace the Czech Public Procurement Act (ZZVZ) for above-threshold contracts. Domestic legislation would likely be left to cover only below-threshold contracts and the specific oversight procedures of the Office of the Protection of Competition (ÚHOS).
A key new feature introduced by the proposal is the Buy European preference mechanism. This instrument aims to actively strengthen the position of EU suppliers and prioritize European goods and services within the internal market, particularly in the sectors strategic to technology or security. By introducing this preference, EU legislation responds to global economic challenges and the increasingly assertive subsidy policies of third countries. s. At the same time, the proposal places much stronger emphasis on sustainability, turning environmental and social criteria, which were previously often optional, into mandatory requirements for tenders.
Although the proposal is still at the very beginning of the European legislative process and will undoubtedly undergo complex negotiations in the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, it sends a clear signal about where the Union is heading in this matter. Looking ahead, this anticipated unification of rules may well demand a fundamentally transformed strategic approach to public procurement as a whole.
Legal Update 09/2026 download here.