Governmental legislative changes to increase transparency in public procurement

At the meeting of the Government of Ukraine on Wednesday, May 27, the Minister of Economy presented the changes to the law on public procurement, which have been designed to reduce corruption risks, simplify conditions for business to participate in public procurement and to bring the legislation in public procurement in compliance with European standards.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk reminded that previous year there had been adopted the law on public procurement, which had been completely approved by the western partners, particularly by the European Commission.

"The new law should finally bring transparency in public procurement sector", he stressed.

Amendments to the bill contain anti-corruption and deregulation norms. Namely, a bidder will be obliged to provide information about ultimate beneficiary. As part of a further deregulation process it is suggested to limit the powers of the Treasury in the process of inspection of documents in the period of registration of contracts, to liquidate monitoring functions in procurement procedures etc.

Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius stressed that legislation would be harmonized with international standards and EU directives, terms of the procurement process would be brought in compliance with EU directives and WTO standards, mandatory publication of procurement information provided in English.

"Thus, these changes will boost the level of competition, reduce corruption risks, and will enable to implement the priority commitments of Ukraine under the Association Agreement, which is to join the WTO Agreement on government procurement until the year’s end, and will provide our manufacturers with an opportunity to participate in public procurement procedures in other countries", accentuated the Minister.