The EU International Procurement Instrument (IPI) lays down the procedures whereby the European Commission can investigate alleged measures or practices negatively affecting the access of EU businesses, goods and services to non-EU procurement markets, and consult with the non-EU countries concerned. As a last resort, it can impose measures restricting their companies’ access to restrict access to the EU public procurement market.
Within the scope of its aims to promote reciprocity in access to international public procurement markets, the IPI has issued guidelines to facilitate the application of the IPI Regulation by contracting authorities and contracting entities and by economic operators.
Moreover, the IPI’s Access2Markets tool reinforces its aim to open up these protected markets by offering EU companies information on trading with third countries, such as tariffs, taxes, procedures, formalities and requirements, rules of origin, export measures, statistics, trade barriers and much more.