Betingelser for brugen af tildelingskriterier der tilgodeser miljø og sociale hensyn samt økonomiske effekter heraf

Abstract

The following paper delves into the topic of social and environmental considerations in public procurement in the EU. The paper consists of a legal part part and an economic part. The legal part focuses on identifying the rules that contracting authorities are subjugated to adhere to when they want to make use of these considerations in public procurement. As this is rather large topic and the paper is limited in its length, the field of the scope has been narrowed to social and environmental considerations as award criterions. The economic part of the paper focuses on how social and environmental criterias effect the transaction costs for the economic operator, how beeing social responsible in generel effects firms and if the current state of social responsibility in danish firms is enough to have an actual effect on the social and environmental problems at large. The legal part is mainly based on the case law on the topic from the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) and to a smaller degree the soft law communications of the European Commission. The exposition takes the form of a evolutionary review. This shows how the rules for social and environmental award criterias takes more and more form through the cases of Beentjes, Storebælt, Nord-Pas de Calais, Evn- Wienstrom and Max Havelaar in the interplay between the restrictive European Commission and the more accommodative ECJ. The paper concludes that the ECJ leaves a relative large margin of discretion to the contracting authorities, as long as they abide to rules of the EU-treaty, mainly the rules of equal treatment and transperancy, and there is a link between the award criterion and the subject matter of the contract. The economic part opens by finding that there is a connection between the complexity of procurement contracts and the transaction costs of the economic operator and that social and environmental considerations adds to the complexity of the contract, thus adding to transaction costs. Afterwards the economic effects of a firm implementing a social responsible profile is examined. The focus of this is on brand value, employee productivity and cost of capital. According to the examined studies, there is a clear positive connection between a social responsible profile and brand value and employee productivity. The effect on cost of capital is less clear and although there are 4 positive indications, these are not conclusive. There are also costs connected to a social responsible profile, mainly the cost of advertising, the startup costs of the project and opportunity costs. Lastly, through a series of surveys on CSR in danish firms, it is concluded that the current level of social responsibility in danish firms is not at a level, where it have an overall positive effect on the overall social and environmental problems that we face in this age. In the discussion the suggestion of using social and environmental award criterias as a policy tool to get more firms to behave in a social responsible way is introduced. The main point is that the danish contracting authorities should use social and environmental award criterias on as many procurement contracts as possible, as this will help stimulate a marked where such considerations are held high.