EFFECT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION PUBLIC PROCUREMENT RULES ON HEALTH CARE

Public procurement is an important concept in the internal market order of the European Union. The European Union, which aims to prevent the member states' national reflexes on public procurement, is trying to control this area through a set of secondary legislative arrangements. Public procurement which has a great importance and share in the economies of the European Union and the other states, has a decisive feature in the areas of health services. Health services which is not directly within the jurisdiction of the European Union and its institutions are under the member states’ responsibility. However, procurement procedures for health services interact with public procurement legislation of the European Union. In this respect, European Union public procurement rules have an inevitable effect on health services. The aim of the study is to show this effect and the relationship between European public procurement rules and member states' health services. The basic rule is that the European Union rules on public procurement should be applied if the health care recipient institution is a public authority capable of contracting. Given the large diversity of health care systems in the member states, it becomes difficult to answer the question of how the European Union's rules on public procurement affect health care organizations in the member states. It is also very problematic that the European Union public procurement rules are subject to uniform implementation in the field of health services. The conclusion of the study is that health services are not in line with European Union public procurement rules due to differences in the organization and financing of national health systems in member states.

Keywords

European Union, public procurement, health services, public procurement directive