Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026

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PART 5

Amendments to Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022

Green public procurement criteria and guidance

30. The Act of 2022 is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 7:

“Preparation of green public procurement criteria and guidance

7A. (1) The Minister may by order designate a public body referred to in subsection (9)(a) to be the designated body for the purposes of this section.

(2) The designated body shall prepare criteria that may be applied by public bodies in respect of goods, services or works that may be procured by such public bodies in order to support the objective of protecting the environment, promoting environmental sustainability and supporting the transition to a circular economy (in this section and section 7B referred to as ‘green public procurement criteria’).

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), green public procurement criteria may include criteria to address the objectives of:

(a) reducing greenhouse gas emissions;

(b) improving the energy efficiency of goods, services or works;

(c) minimising the generation of waste by goods, services or works;

(d) improving air and water quality and reducing noise and soil pollution;

(e) protecting biodiversity.

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), the designated body may:

(a) set out different criteria in respect of the procurement of different classes of goods, services or works;

(b) set out the manner in which, and the means by which, green public procurement criteria shall be integrated into the process of procuring goods, services or works;

(c) set out how the attainment of the criteria by the goods, services or works concerned may be evaluated or verified.

(5) The designated body shall prepare guidance (in this section referred to as ‘green public procurement guidance’) in relation to—

(a) practices for the integration of green public procurement criteria into processes for the procurement of goods, services or works by public bodies, and

(b) compliance by public bodies with the obligation referred to in section 7B(1).

(6) In preparing green public procurement criteria and green public procurement guidance, the designated body shall take into account—

(a) the circular economy strategy, and

(b) such voluntary criteria for the public procurement of goods, services or works as are prepared by the European Commission for the purpose of protecting the environment as the designated body considers appropriate.

(7) In preparing green public procurement criteria and green public procurement guidance, the designated body shall consult with such Minister of the Government, and such other persons, as the designated body considers appropriate.

(8) The designated body shall publish the green public procurement criteria and green public procurement guidance on a website maintained by it or on its behalf.

(9) In this section and section 7B, ‘public body’ means—

(a) a contracting authority within the meaning of the European Union (Award of Public Authority Contracts) Regulations 2016 ( S.I. No. 284 of 2016 ), or

(b) any other person, body, organisation or group that the Minister may prescribe for the purposes of this Act.

Reporting on integration of green public procurement criteria into public procurement

7B. (1) Each public body shall, in accordance with guidance referred to in section 7A(5)(b), prepare a report annually that—

(a) identifies each procurement of goods, services or works by the public body in the previous calendar year where green public procurement criteria relevant to such goods, services or works were not integrated into the procurement process, and

(b) the reasons why the public body considered it appropriate and proportionate not to include any of those criteria in that procurement process.

(2) The public body that prepared the report under subsection (1) shall—

(a) where requested to do so by the public body designated by the Minister under subsection (3), provide a copy of the report to the public body that made the request, or

(b) where not so requested, publish the report on a website maintained by or on behalf of the public body that prepared the report.

(3) The Minister may by order designate a public body referred to in section 7A(9)(a) for the purposes of receiving a report under subsection (2)(a).”.