ABSTRACT
The regulation of the purchasing behaviour of the demand side in public markets seems to constitute an effective way of introducing competitive elements to the European industries, which apparently suffer from overcapacity and excessive compartmentalisation, when compared to rival industries in North America and Japan. Reliance upon directly effective primary Community law and attempts to pronounce the incompatibility of domestic laws and admimstrative practices relevant to public procurement with Treaty rules and principles created a background for policy formulation and intervention in the sensitive field of domestic public purchasing. The inadequacy of primary Community law to regulate public procurement within the common market was clearly augmented with the complexity of the legal regimes in operation in the member states, as well as their polarised nature and the character of national regulatory powers in relation to public purchasing. The structure of the British public procurement can be classified into five major types of contracting entities.
