Fundamentals of contract modifications in EU procurement law

For the past decades the Court of Justice of the European Union has been drafting the legal framework for contract modifications in relation to public procurement. The current rules in the Directive 2014/24/EU represent well years of the Court’s case law. Nonetheless, certain unregulated gaps remain. This chapter aims to shed some light on the fundamental characteristics of contract changes by concentrating on four different aspects. First, this chapter looks into what kind of changes are acceptable under the current regime and what the term ‘overall nature of the contract’ means. Second, the differences between amendments made within different stages of procurement procedure are discussed. Third, it looks into the scope of remedies imposed due to illegal contract modifications and fourth, before concluding, the transparency of contract amendments and the differences between jurisdictions are discussed.For the past decades the Court of Justice of the European Union has been drafting the legal framework for contract modifications in relation to public procurement. The current rules in the Directive 2014/24/EU represent well years of the Court’s case law. Nonetheless, certain unregulated gaps remain. This chapter aims to shed some light on the fundamental characteristics of contract changes by concentrating on four different aspects. First, this chapter looks into what kind of changes are acceptable under the current regime and what the term ‘overall nature of the contract’ means. Second, the differences between amendments made within different stages of procurement procedure are discussed. Third, it looks into the scope of remedies imposed due to illegal contract modifications and fourth, before concluding, the transparency of contract amendments and the differences between jurisdictions are discussed