Sylvia De Mars

Research Topic

Identical Regulation, Different Outcomes: An Analysis of the Implementation of EU Public Procurement Legislation in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and France.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the manner and extent to which EU regulation of procurement has influenced the regulation of public procurement in Member States, including the extent to which this has led to a more uniform approach in the Member States. This will involve looking at the nature and extent of implementation of the detailed legal obligations in the directives; the regulatory response in Member States to the less specific and more uncertain obligations imposed by the EC Treaty as well as the general principles of transparency and equal treatment; and the influence of EU rules in areas not strictly covered by EU obligations.

In addressing the question the thesis will explore such issues as:

• the extent of divergences in interpreting the EC rules in national regulatory instruments in different Member States;
• the influence of EU-level soft law—notably Commission guidance—both in implementing the EU rules and in influencing the approaches taken in areas outside the EC rules;
• the relative impact of obligations imposed in secondary legislation and those developed through case law;
• the extent to which implementation of EU law is affected by national procurement traditions (for example, the existence or otherwise of prior national rules on the subject in question).

The research will examine the regulatory response to EU procurement in rules in three separate countries: France, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.  These three countries were selected because they provide an interesting mixture of traditions, ranging from strictly legal implementation of all EU legislation to a very soft-law oriented approach.  The countries also provide examples of both common law and civil law systems, and I speak the languages required in order to conduct an in-depth study of their legal traditions and current practices in this field.

Research Supervisor

Professor Sue Arrowsmith.

Primary Funding Source

AHRC & School Scholarship

Academic Qualifications

Academic Qualifications	Awarding Institutions
BA Social Sciences	University College Utrecht
LLM International Law	University of Nottingham

 

Other Information

Sylvia succesfully completed her PhD studies in 2010 and is currently Lecturer in Law at Newcastle University.