This statement was made by Goran Matesic, the head of the Croatian commission supervising public procurement proceedings, who addressed an international conference on legal protection in public procurement proceedings in Zagreb on Tuesday.
The conference was part of a CARDS programme aimed at strengthening the state commission supervising public procurement proceedings.
The 18-month project, launched in July this year, is worth 600,000 euros, and the twinning partner from the European Union in its implementation is the Slovene commission for the revision of public procurement proceedings.
Asked by reporters about the existing Croatian legislation in this field, Matesic said that 80 percent of Croatian laws and regulations on public procurement had already been adjusted to the EU acquis communautaire. The national legislation should now incorporate provisions regulating more complex and longer public procurement procedures, he explained.
Matesic also said that 2004 had seen 883 complaints regarding public procurement proceedings, and that this year the number of complaints would rise to more than 900. In 2004, 8.9 percent of public procurement proceedings were subject to complaints, which was below the European Union average, he added.
The Zagreb conference pooled 95 participants from Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro and the Czech Republic.