📢 PUBLIC PROCUREMENT TREFF IS BACK!

On May 9th, we met with ITL Estonia members at a morning seminar organized by Advokaadibüroo Matteus and ITL.

In March, Merily Rool participated as a speaker and moderated the discussion at the exclusive Addenda roundtable "Burning Issues in Public Procurement," alongside the wonderful Erle Eks and Triinu Eismel. The event brought together public procurement professionals to discuss current topics and share experiences. ✏️

A New Business Season Begins – and So Do the Conferences!

On November 6, Addenda will host its annual Public Procurement Conference, where I’ll kick off the day with an overview of the most important rulings from the European Court of Justice over the past year. Every procurement lawyer should stay updated on these cases — and isn’t it nice when someone brings the key takeaways straight to your table? :)

Other topics worth mentioning:

• Mario Sõrm and Kadri Härginen will dive into the nuances of negotiated procedures without prior publication,

• Mart Parind promises a thought-provoking session on suppliers’ evergreen concerns,

• The conference will be moderated by Professor Mari Ann Simovart from the University of Tartu.

There are many more exciting topics on the agenda, so make sure to register for the conference, and see you on November 6!

In November 2023, I attended the Estonian Public Procurement Conference and presented an overview of the European Court of Justice and General Court decisions in the field of public procurement from the previous year. The annual conference is a good opportunity to see familiar faces, meet new ones, and stay informed about developments in the field.

While the European Court interprets procurement directives mainly through preliminary rulings (usually recognizable by the letter "C" in the decision), it is also worth keeping an eye on General Court decisions (starting with the letter "T"). Although the General Court resolves procurement disputes involving EU agencies under the financial regulation, the court has found that when the regulation is the same as in the directive, the Court of Justice's decisions on interpreting the directive are taken into account and vice versa.

Here are some key takeaways from this year's decisions made before November 1, 2023:

On November 9, 2023, at the Public Procurement Conference, I was able to provide an overview of this year's European Court and General Court rulings in the field of public procurement. The annual conference is a great opportunity to see familiar and new faces and to stay updated on developments in the field.

On October 13, 2023, I chaired a panel on fair trial issues in administrative court proceedings at the Judicial Procedure Conference led by the Supreme Court. Our panel delved into the pillars of fair trial and procedural transparency. Participating in the panel were Supreme Court justices Nele Siitam and Julia Laffranque, a judge from the Tallinn Circuit Court and professor of administrative procedure at the University of Tartu, Villem Lapimaa, and Triin Kaurov, partner at the law firm TGS.