CEFTA
SAAs between Western Balkans and the EU
The Western Balkans and the EU have included commitments on public procurement in their respective SAAs. The commitments aim at opening up the award of public contracts between the parties and concern, inter alia:
- Non-discrimination: the SAAs contain provisions to ensure companies are treated equally in public procurement processes;
- Regulatory alignment: Western Balkan parties are encouraged to adopt EU public procurement rules, especially in the utilities sector; and
- Adapted timeline for market access:the SAAs vary and provide different timelines for granting market access to EU companies, including transitional periods to gradually reduce the preferential treatment for local companies.
For more information on the specific commitments on public procurement agreed upon between the EU and each Western Balkan party, please check the annexes to the respective SAA, available here.