The new Public Procurement Act: what changes on Day 1 (and what doesn't)
- From three directives to one act
- Directly applicable — no national transposition first
- The dates that actually matter
- What you do NOT have to do yet
- How the text got here: the stages
1. From three directives to one act
The PPA replaces Directives 2014/24/EU, 2014/25/EU and 2014/23/EU with a single instrument. Rules that used to differ between Member States' transpositions now read identically everywhere.
2. Directly applicable
As a regulation, the text applies the same way in every Member State from day one of its application date — no waiting for each country to write its own version. National law that contradicts it must give way.
3. The dates that matter
Proposal: adopted by the Commission on 9 September 2026 as COM(2026) 590 final. Negotiation: Parliament and the Council, with a target to conclude around Q4 2027. Application: expected no earlier than 2029-2030 after a built-in transition period. Until then, the 2014 directives — and your national transposition — still govern your tenders. Each date above belongs to a different stage of the same process: see the timeline of stages, which also records what the leaked July 2026 draft contained and how the official text compares.
4. What you do NOT have to do yet
Do not rewrite your templates on Day 1. Use the transition to map your go-to articles with our article finder and subscribe to the negotiation watch.
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