Commission Regulation (EC) No 213/2008 of 28 November 2007 amending Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) and Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on public procurement procedures, as regards the revision of the CPV (Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 on the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)⁽¹⁾, and in particular Article 2 thereof,

Having regard to Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors⁽²⁾, and in particular Article 70(d) and (e) thereof,

Having regard to Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts⁽³⁾, and in particular Article 79(f) and (g) thereof,

Whereas:

1. Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 established the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV), a single classification system applicable to public procurement, to standardise the references used by contracting authorities and entities to describe the subject of their contracts.

2. The structure, codes and descriptions of the CPV should be adapted or amended, in the light of developments in the market and users' needs. Some specific suggestions made by interested parties and CPV users for improvements of the text of the CPV should be taken into account. The structure, codes and descriptions of the CPV should be updated also to make the CPV an efficient tool for electronic public procurement.

3. To increase the user friendliness of the CPV, it should be made less material-driven and more product-driven. Accordingly, the product characteristics in the Main Vocabulary set out in the current Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002, should be transferred to the Supplementary Vocabulary set out in the same Annex and divisions which are strongly material driven in the current vocabulary should be redistributed over the other divisions.

4. Rationalisation of the hierarchy of the CPV by aggregating and redistributing divisions with a limited number of codes, which should partially be considered together, as well as divisions which could cause confusion, should be performed in such a way as to simplify the use of the nomenclature by providing a more coherent and homogenous presentation.

5. The classification for defence-related equipment and services should be improved by regrouping the existing and scattered codes in new groups and classes for more coherent presentation and by adding new codes such as military research and technology.

6. The structure of the Supplementary Vocabulary should be entirely revised in order to create a logical structure with sections divided into groups to be used in addition to the Main Vocabulary. For the simplification it can bring, in terms of allowing a complete description of the subject matter of a contract, and in terms of reducing the number of codes of the Main Vocabulary, the Supplementary Vocabulary should also be enriched with characteristics of products and services.

7. In the interest of clarity Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 should be replaced.

8. Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 which contains detailed lists of amendments made in 2003 has lost its interest and should therefore be deleted.

9. As a consequence of the revision of the CPV, it is appropriate to update also the illustrative tables set out in Annexes III, IV and V to Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 which show the correspondence between the CPV and respectively the Provisional Central Product Classification (CPC Prov.) of the United Nations the General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities within the European Communities (NACE Rev. 1) and the Combined Nomenclature (CN). In the interest of clarity it is appropriate to replace them.

10. It is appropriate to update on the occasion of the revision of the CPV, the lists of activities and of services with references to the CPV codes set out in the Annexes to Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC, so as to be in accordance with the revised CPV, without changing the material scope of those Directives.

11. To allow sufficient time for technical adaptations of the electronic systems to the new CPV, it is appropriate to provide for the application of this Regulation six months after its publication.

12. The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Advisory Committee on Public Contracts,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: