Position paper - European Defence Industry Reinforcement through Common Procurement Act (EDIRPA)

The European Commission proposed a newRegulation establishing the European Defence Industry Reinforcement through common Procurement Act (EDIRPA). This is welcomed as a step  towards greater reinforcement of European defence industrial capacities. Aggregating EU Member States’ demand in common defence procurement is an improvement for European defence industrial policy and it can provide benefits to both customers and suppliers. However, under the current conditions EDIRPA risks failing to fill urgent critical capability gaps, which can weaken long-term strategic resilience and reduce opportunities for interoperability and interchangeability among allies. Therefore, the proposal should be amended to ensure that EDIRPA can fully support national armament requirements in the EU while providing legal clarity and process certainty.

EDIRPA should also be aligned with the existing legal defence procurement frameworks by:

• Adjusting articles 8(4) to 8(8) to align with the concept of ‘certification’ as per article 9 of the Transfers of defence-related products Directive (2009/43/EC).
• Removing article 8(9) to align with the concept of ‘Security of Supply’ as per article 23 of the Defence Procurement Directive (2009/81/EC), to strengthen the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), and ensure that EDIRPA can fully support national armament requirements in the EU.
• Reforming article 8(10) by empowering the contracting authority / entity to determine what constitutes a subcontractor based on a workshare which is deemed proportionate to the requirement of the programme.