On 11 November 2020, the European Commission has announced a range of proposals to build a European Health Union. The proposed measures reflect on the learnings from the current COVID-19 and previous influenza pandemics and seek to enhance Member States’ preparedness for future health crises, which also includes a greater involvement of the EU. As part of its set of measures, the Commission is proposing to revise the current EU joint procurement framework.
- Current Joint Procurement Framework
In 2010, as part of its “lessons learnt from the A/H1N1 pandemic”, the European Council called for the development of a joint procurement framework for vaccines and antiviral medication. Subsequently, the European Parliament and Council adopted Decision 1082/2013/EU (the “Decision”) on serious cross-border threats to health, which, among others, provides that the EU and any interested Member States may conduct a joint procurement procedure. The detailed procedure was then agreed between the Commission and the Member States in the Joint Procurement Agreement (the “JPA”).
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