Belgium - EU Public Procurement Threshold Applicable to Medicine and Medical Device Purchases by Hospitals Increases Slightly
- 19/12/2023
- News
On 18 December 2023, the Belgian Official Journal (Belgisch Staatsblad / Moniteur belge) published a Ministerial Decree of 13 December 2023 implementing in Belgian law the financial thresholds for the application of the EU public procurement directives for the years 2024-2025 (see, attached copy). The European Commission updated these thresholds by Commission Delegated Regulations (EU) 2023/2495, 2023/2496, 2023/2497 and 2023/2510, OJ, 16 November 2023.
The threshold applicable to public supply contracts, e.g., for the supply of medicines or medical devices, and public service contracts awarded by hospitals increases slightly from EUR 215,000 to 221,000 (VAT excluded). The new threshold will apply from 1 January 2024 onwards. Contracts whose estimated value reaches or exceeds the threshold must be published both in the Belgian Bulletin der Aanbestedingen / Bulletin des Adjudications (available here) and in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the EU (available here).
Public tenders by the hospital sector are one of the prime enforcement targets of the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA). Both “public procurement” and “the pharmaceutical and health sector” feature high among the BCA’s enforcement priorities (see, Van Bael & Bellis Life Sciences News and Insights of 24 July 2023).
By Royal Decree of 13 September 2023, specific tendering rules were introduced for hospitals with a view to reducing entry barriers for biosimilars and increasing their uptake (see, Van Bael & Bellis Life Sciences News and Insights of 25 September 2023).
