The European Commission has proposed a reform of public procurement laws to simplify the exclusion of companies from non-EU countries in tenders. The initiative aims to reduce dependencies and strengthen industrial capacities within the European Union by introducing a voluntary European preference criterion.
The new regulations would apply to public tenders for battery-electric buses, charging infrastructure, and municipal electric vehicle fleets. Authorities will be encouraged to prioritize quality, security, and resilience over the lowest price when awarding contracts.
The proposal includes creating a list of countries that grant reciprocal access to their procurement markets, which will include the UK and the US but exclude China. This framework is intended to allow member states to better align public spending with strategic industrial goals.
The status of manufacturers like BYD remains complex, as the company operates a production plant in Komárom, Hungary, which has been active since 2017. Under the draft rules, the origin of the product, determined by EU customs regulations, may be more decisive than the origin of the company itself.
The draft currently awaits approval from the European Parliament and member states. It follows recent controversies, such as the order of 200 electric buses placed by Deutsche Bahn with BYD, where the manufacturer secured only 5 per cent of the contract volume while the majority went to MAN.
