Regeringen vill kunna stoppa företag från tredjeland i offentliga upphandlingar

The government now wants to tighten the rules on which countries can participate in Swedish tenders A new investigation will examine the possibility of excluding foreign suppliers to protect national defense and prevent infiltration in critical societal operations There are very few tenders involved here Very few bids come in for a public procurement from a third country without a free trade agreement with the EU The most important thing is that we should be able to exclude actors that we consider for example could pose a threat to the country's security and in that case we also need this possibility to exclude them in certain countries Slottner says that Sweden cannot impose requirements that conflict with EU law but that authorities can structure their contracts in a way that makes it harder for unwanted actors to operate as subcontractors It is important that the agreement is written in this way and that there is also the power and ability to follow up on the subcontractor chain The investigation suggests that Swedish procurement laws should be supplemented with a provision that exempts suppliers from third countries lacking a free trade agreement with the EU The background is two rulings from the EU Court of Justice that have clearly shown Sweden has not fully complied with EU rules so far It has certainly not been a straightforward interpretation but it has been clarified through these rulings from the Court of Justice of the European Union that it is indeed the case The consequences are expected to be limited since there are already few foreign suppliers from third countries submitting bids in Swedish procurements This makes it possible for the purchasing authorities to exclude suppliers from such third countries Authorities still have to decide themselves whether suppliers should be excluded or not which places higher demands on their awareness of security issues We are of course limited by what the European Court of Justice has stated and it is clearly evident that we cannot intervene and regulate that suppliers from third countries cannot be included Without us giving procurement authorities the opportunity to do so