Competition law and public procurement – two sides of the same coin

On 12 June an international conference will be held in Warsaw on "Competition law and public procurement – two sides of the same coin”. The event organiser is the Public Procurement Law Association, whose vice-president is Katarzyna Kuźma, and Partner is Beck Publishing House. During the conference our expert Wojciech Hartung will give a talk on "Potential abuse of a dominant position on the public procurement market” while Katarzyna Kuźma is to lead a panel on "How to effectively identify and combat anti-competitive behaviour during contract award procedures?".

The event will offer a unique opportunity to consider the issue of distortion of competition in tender procedures from the perspective of both these areas of law.

The participants will discuss such issues as the distortion of competition by contracting authorities and contractors, cases of abuse of dominant positions in the public procurement market, and the newest case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the self-cleaning mechanism. Panel discussions will reflect on how to tackle anti-competitive practices in the course of tender procedures and discuss methods of counteracting the abuse of superior bargaining position by contracting authorities.

The meeting will bring together representatives from public institutions as well as experts and practitioners in the field of public procurement law and competition law. The speakers will include specialists from Poland and abroad, among others, Dr Albert Sánchez Graells (University of Bristol, United Kingdom), Dr Deividas Soleveicik (a partner with Cobalt law firm, Lithuania), Dr Anna Blume Huttenlauch and Dr Roland Stein (partners with Blomstein law firm, Germany), as well as Ms Irma Urmonaitė (Head of the Anti-competitive Agreements Investigation Division, the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania). Simultaneous translation will be provided by the organiser.

The event will take place at the DAGO Centrum Conference Centre (Rondo ONZ 1 in Warsaw), at 9:00 am. The full agenda is available at the organiser’s website: http://www.stowarzyszeniepzp.pl/en/initiatives-projects/69-competition-law-and-public-procurement-two-sides-of-the-same-coin

Admission to the conference is free, however, places are limited due to capacity constraints of the venue. Thus, registration is subject to confirmation by the organiser.

Please book your place by 6 June: kontakt@stowarzyszeniepzp.pl.