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The issues of mutual recognition of electronic digital signatures (EDS) by the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union and digitalization of government procurement were discussed by members of the Advisory Committee on Public Procurement under the Eurasian Economic Commission in Astana on November 20.

The event was chaired by Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation. The meeting was also attended by members of the Advisory Committee from among the heads of relevant government bodies of the EAEU countries vested with powers in the field of regulation of public procurement.

According to the EEC Minister, conceptual approaches have already been developed and agreed upon at the expert level to ensure mutual EDS recognition in public procurement. “The plan for mutual recognition by the EAEU countries of each other’s electronic signatures in public procurement provides for the development of relevant Rules. We have reached agreements with countries in many respects. Now we plan to incorporate these approaches into the Rules for Mutual EDS Recognition, which we will submit for approval to the Board, and then to the Commission's Council,” noted Bakhyt Sultanov.

  In addition, the parties considered the issues of automating the admission of potential suppliers from one EAEU state to public procurement of other Five countries, including in terms of listing the information necessary to confirm the qualifications of potential suppliers.

“We analyzed the legislation on public procurement of the Union States. It showed that there were both requirements to potential suppliers common for all countries, and special ones that apply depending on the specifics of the procurement subject matter. Therefore, we asked our colleagues for proposals to define uniform requirements to potential suppliers, which could be enshrined in the law of the Union,” the EEC Minister emphasized.

Also, based on the monitoring results, the meeting made a decision to address the issue of excluding certain procurements from the scope of the Union’s law regulation, including procurements for the purposes of conducting election campaigns and hiring lawyers.

To further implement the planned activities, as well as discuss relevant matters of digitalization and providing access to electronic procurement, the meeting participants decided to create an expert group of web portal and e-commerce platform operators. According to Bakhyt Sultanov, such a group will be established in the near future.