«GREEN» PUBLIC PROCUREMENT: POTENTIAL BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES FOR UKRAINE

Series "Law": Legal regulation of economic relations in specific areas and sectors of the economic

Abstract

The present article deals with the main challenges concerning the implementation of «green» public procurement in Uk raine. The paper gives special attention to the conflict of the «traditional» public procurement goal with the «horizontal» objective for environmental protection. The author comes to the conclusion that these goals have an equal status. The «horizontal» objective for environmental protection is legitimate and not necessarily subservient to commercial aspects. Taking into consideration Sustainable development goals it is appropriate to integrate «green» component as an integral part of the value for money, i.e. obtaining the best result possible from the money spent. The paper dwells on one of the potential challenges for Ukraine as higher purchasing prices of «green» public procurement. The author gives a review of some research papers which are dedicated to potential costs of «green» procurement and concludes that higher costs are in many cases compensated by lower operating costs. Performance-based specifications and life-cycle costing approach are the potential tools for making rational decisions in «green» public procurement. The article involves a profound analysis of the EU Court of Justice cases on potential discrimination in «green» procurement and pays attention to the doctrine of «excluding buying decisions». The author suggests that given the environmental integration principle under the art. 11 of the TFEU «green» public procurement could have a special status. The article analyses potential limitations for the contracting authority in determining the award criteria, mainly «the link to the subject-matter» requirement. The author gives special consideration to the potential benefits of «green» procurement and elaborates recommendations on its implementation in Ukraine. The refusal to develop «green» public procurement in Ukraine could lead to a loss of its position in the international public procurement market, in particular the procurement market of the EU and WTO member states that are actively implementing the policy of introducing and implementing «green» procurement.

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