EUREFAS contribution to the revision of EU public procurement rules

Building a sovereign and circular Europe: How reuse must lead the public procurement revision

EUREFAS, the European Refurbishment Association, welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to revise the current public procurement framework. We believe that public procurement must evolve from a simple administrative task into a powerful lever for industrial sovereignty and circular resilience. EUREFAS advocates for a framework that systematically prioritizes the preservation of resource value through reuse and refurbishment through the following measures :

Prioritizing reuse: distinguishing between reuse and recycled materials

The future legislative framework must establish a clear distinction between products derived from reuse such as refurbishment and those merely containing recycled materials. This distinction is key to the effectiveness of circular procurement; evidence from various Member States has shown that policy frameworks failing to distinguish between these categories did not lead to an increase in reuse, as they often allowed for high-value refurbished products to be sidelined in favor of lower-value recycling. In accordance with the EU waste hierarchy, reuse should be prioritized as it preserves the physical integrity and embodied raw materials of a product, whereas recycling involves the destruction of manufacturing value to recover raw materials.

Establishing harmonized and mandatory circularity targets

We propose the introduction of mandatory circularity targets for Member States : This would involve setting a minimum requirement where at least 20% of the annual public procurement volume is dedicated to products originating from reuse such as refurbishment. A harmonized framework is crucial to prevent the fragmentation of the Single Market and to provide clear, uniform signals to the refurbishment industry across all Member States. To account for the varying levels of market maturity across the Union, this trajectory should be progressive, allowing Member States to converge toward a common European target by 2030.

Rebalancing award criteria and scoring weight

To move away from the current dominance of the lowest-price criterion, the European framework must adopt a stricter and more balanced definition of the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT). We recommend an obligation to allocate at least 30% of the total scoring weight to sustainability and circularity criteria, including comprehensive life-cycle costing. Additionally, and as a general principle, the revised rules should assume by default that environmental and social considerations are inherently linked to the subject matter of any public contract. This is a legal safeguard: currently, buyers are often restricted to criteria strictly tied to the specific product being purchased. By removing this ambiguity, the new framework would ensure that public buyers have the legal right to evaluate a company’s broader circular and social behavior, providing legal certainty to value a company’s overall impact.

Expanding reserved contracts to strategic circular industries

The scope of Article 20, which currently allows for reserved contracts for sheltered workshops and social enterprises, should be expanded to support strategic circular industries. Member States should be granted the power to reserve specific lots for companies whose primary economic activity is reuse, repair, or refurbishment. This expansion must be designed to preserve fair competition among all market players, including both Social and Solidarity Economy (ESS) entities and commercial enterprises. Selection within these reserved lots should be based on transparent criteria of proximity and technical competence, fostering the development of a local European industrial infrastructure dedicated to maintenance and circularity anchored within our territories.

Implementing automatic take-back schemes

We advocate for the generalization of automatic take-back clauses that require the public entities to redirect used fleets toward professional reuse channels. By strictly adhering to a "reuse first" principle, this approach fuels local refurbishment offers and ensures that public investment directly supports the European industrial base while enhancing strategic autonomy.

Enhancing accessibility for circular SMEs

Finally, the complexity of existing procedures often favors large-scale manufacturers of new products over smaller circular economy actors. We recommend the systematic use of allotment to allow SMEs specializing in refurbishment to bid on volumes that match their operational capacities. Furthermore, administrative simplification through a single European digital portal is essential to reduce the high cost of participation for companies operating within the circular economy.

The modernization of the public procurement framework represents a historic opportunity to unlock the full potential of circularity within the European Union. Member States and public bodies must set the example by integrating these principles into their own operations, signaling a clear commitment to the transition. In particular, public fleets, especially for IT equipment constitute a massive reservoir for professional European reuse and refurbishment. By shifting these fleets toward refurbishment solutions, public authorities can lead the way, drastically reducing their environmental footprint while supporting local industrial resilience and European sovereignty.