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Informational only — not legal advice. Based on ppa-official-2026-09-10 · expected to apply from 2029-01-01 (transition ongoing) · Verify at EUR-Lex

From the 2014 directives to the Act: the stages

PPA Hub team · 2026-11-06

The drafts you may have seen circulating and the text published in September are steps of the same negotiation, not competing versions. This page puts them in order and says what changed at each step — including what the leaked July draft got right and what the official proposal corrected.

Only the last stage is law. The 2014 directives apply today. Everything after them is a proposal until Parliament and the Council agree and the transition period ends: nothing on this page changes the rules for a tender you are running now.
  1. In force today directives

    The 2014 directives

    Directive (national transposition required)
    2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU

    Three directives govern EU public procurement: 2014/24/EU (public sector), 2014/25/EU (utilities: water, energy, transport, postal) and 2014/23/EU (concessions). Being directives, each Member State transposes them into national law, so the rules applied in practice differ from country to country.

    source 1

  2. Superseded stage evaluation

    Evaluation and public consultation

    Commission evaluation of the 2014 directives
    Commission working document, 14 October 2025; consultation 3 Nov 2025 - 26 Jan 2026

    The Commission evaluates the 2014 directives and publishes a mixed assessment: the framework is found to be complex, fragmented and to have limited SME and cross-border participation. An EU-wide consultation follows, open from 3 November 2025 to 26 January 2026.

    What changed at this step: First formal step towards the reform: the case for replacing the directives is built here, and the choice of instrument (regulation rather than directive) starts to be tested with stakeholders.

    source 1

  3. Superseded stage planning

    Work programme and legislative timetable

    Public Procurement Act announced in the 2026 Commission Work Programme
    "One Europe, One Market" roadmap, signed 24 April 2026; target to conclude negotiations Q4 2027

    A Public Procurement Act appears in the 2026 Commission Work Programme with a proposal expected in Q2 2026, originally pencilled in for 1 July and then moved to 9 September. The roadmap signed by Parliament, the Commission and the Council Presidency sets a target of Q4 2027 to conclude negotiations.

    What changed at this step: The timetable becomes public and negotiated between the three institutions: proposal in September 2026, negotiations through 2026-2027, conclusion targeted for Q4 2027.

    source 1

  4. Superseded stage leaked draft

    Leaked draft (July 2026)

    Unofficial draft regulation, seven parts
    Circulated from approximately 9 July 2026; reported by Reuters, Euronews, Bloomberg and MLex

    A 144-article draft in seven parts circulates before the summer break. It confirms the choice of instrument: a single directly applicable regulation repealing the three 2014 directives, rather than a revised directive. It also signals European preference tools, economic-security screening of bidders, and a move away from lowest price towards best price-quality ratio. It is not the Commission's text and has no legal value.

    What changed at this step: Compared with the 2014 directives: directives to regulation, one rulebook instead of three, an optional European preference for EU suppliers, screening for foreign interference, and quality criteria as a binding part of award. Compared with what followed: it was an internal, pre-adoption draft that the Commission later improved and proof-read.

    source 1source 2

    Article-level rows for this stage are labelled ppa-draft-2026-09-01 in the article finder.

  5. Current official position proposal

    Commission proposal (9 September 2026)

    Proposal for a Regulation
    COM(2026) 590 final, 2026/0265 COD

    The Commission adopts the Public Procurement Act proposal unanimously. Full title: proposal for a Regulation on public contracts and concessions, repealing Directives 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU and amending a long list of sector-specific instruments (Regulations 1370/2007, 2023/1542, 2024/1157, 2024/1252, 2024/1735, 2024/1781, 2024/2847, 2024/3110, 2025/40 and Directives 2008/98/EC, 2019/882, 2022/2381, 2023/1791, 2024/1760). It is a proposal, not law: it now enters the ordinary legislative procedure.

    What changed at this step: Versus the leaked draft: the text is the official, adopted Commission position, with editorial corrections and improvements; the choice of a single regulation is confirmed. Versus the 2014 directives: it consolidates the three regimes and a set of sector-specific provisions into one directly applicable instrument, removes national transposition discretion, replaces the procedural framework (open-negotiated procedure as default, plus a simplified procedure and an innovation challenge procedure) and requires a Needs Plan at the start of each budgetary period. Legal value: none yet - Parliament and Council must still agree.

    source 1source 2

    Article-level rows for this stage are labelled ppa-official-2026-09-10 in the article finder.

  6. Still to come negociation

    Parliament and Council negotiation

    Ordinary legislative procedure
    Council document ST-12969-2026 (10 September 2026); target to conclude Q4 2027

    The proposal enters the ordinary legislative procedure. The Council has received the text and the European Parliament will report through its committee. Substantial amendment during this phase is normal and expected: the Commission's text is the starting point, not the outcome. This is the phase Negotiation Watch exists to track.

    What changed at this step: Nothing yet: this is where the text is likely to change most, which is why everything on this site is labelled against a specific stage rather than presented as settled law.

    source 1

  7. Still to come application

    Adoption and application

    Regulation entering into application after the transition period
    Earliest application ~2029-2030; phased application for smaller or sub-central authorities not confirmed

    After adoption and a built-in transition period, the regulation applies directly in every Member State with no national transposition step. Current expectation is application no earlier than 2029-2030. Until then the 2014 directives - and their national transpositions - continue to govern live tenders.

    What changed at this step: The practical rule for readers today: nothing about your current tender changes until the application date, and the site marks every fact with the stage it belongs to.

    source 1

How to read the article finder with this

The article finder answers “what does my 2014 article become?” against the proposal. Because the text can still change in negotiation, every answer is labelled with the stage it comes from, and the negotiation watch tracks what moves next.