The Law of Collaborative Defence Procurement in the European Union

States increasingly cooperate to buy expensive defence equipment, but the management and legal aspects of these large collaborative procurement programmes are complex and not well understood. The Law of Collaborative Defence Procurement in the European Union analyses how these programmes are managed, and highlights areas which require improvement. The book addresses the law applicable to these programmes, which is built upon a four-layer 'matryoshka doll' of legal relationships at the crossroads of public international law, EU law and domestic law. Using practical examples, the book makes proposals for clarifying the legal basis and improving the efficiency of defence equipment cooperation among EU member states. By covering a broad scope of legal issues, this analysis goes beyond the defence sector and is relevant to centralised or joint purchasing and procurement activities of international organisations, providing invaluable information for practitioners, policy-makers and academics aiming to analyse or improve these projects.

Part I. Analysis of Collaborative Defence Procurement in the EU: 1. The need for collaborative defence procurement; 2. Organisation of collaborative defence procurement programmes; 3. Procurement process of collaborative defence procurement programmes; 4. Initiatives to improve collaborative defence procurement in Europe; Part II. Legal Framework of Defence Procurement in the EU: 5. The Matryoshka doll of four legal relationships; 6. The EU treaties and defence procurement; 7. The EU public procurement directives and defence procurement; 8. The EU legislation on trade in defence goods; 9. Institutional law of international organisations; Part III. Examples of Collaborative Defence Procurement Structures: 10. International organisation performing collaborative defence procurement in Europe; 11. State-to-state defence procurement cooperation; Part IV. First Matryoshka Doll: The Decision to Participate in a Collaborative Programme: 12. Applicability of the public contracts directive; 13. Applicability of the defence and security directive; 14. Applicability of the EU treaties principles; Part V. Second Matryoshka Doll: The Relationship between the Participating States: 15. International agreements and EU law; 16. Obligation to implement directives; Part VI. Third Matryoshka Doll: The Procurement Rules of the Programme Management Entity: 17. Procurement rules of programmes managed by an international organisation; 18. Procurement rules of programmes managed by a lead nation; Part VII. Actual Compliance with Applicable Law: 19. Rules for OCCAR programmes; 20. Rules for EDA projects and programmes; 21. Rules of NSPO; Part VIII. How to Improve Collaborative Defence Procurement in the EU: 22. Increasing efficiency of collaborative defence procurement programmes; 23. Legal improvements of collaborative defence procurement.