ABSTRACT
It can be observed that joint procurement and the new European procurement directives conceptually converge. The new rules do not only support aggressive centralization, but are likewise supportive of voluntary common purchasing of contracting authorities. For the better understanding of common public procurement, the legislation also determines the distinction between different forms of joint public procurement. Joint awarding of public contracts by contracting authorities from different Member States currently encounters specific legal difficulties concerning conflicts of national laws. Art. 38 about joint purchasing focuses on voluntary joint procurement and on responsibility terms. Hence it does not confirm the rule that seeks solution in voluntary common solution instead of centralization. The 2014 EU Directive on Public Procurement focuses on a number of interesting issues. One of them is certainly joint procurement, the possibility for a number of institutions to purchase as a single subject.
