The EU boasts one of the most open and fair international public procurement regulations in the world and is even in the process of developing a procurement framework that will insist that all public contracting entities base the award of their contracts on the "Most Economically Advantageous Tender" (MEAT) principle which will take into account many aspects of tenders and not only the upfront price. However, as the global leader and cutting edge innovator on rail equipment, European rail manufacturers are facing significant market access challenges on the global marketplace.
While the European rail market has visibly opened to foreign rail manufacturers; other key markets (notably in Asia) do not yet appear to be reciprocating or are further closing their markets. Japan and China are key markets for the European rail industry and in this presentation Philippe Citroen will outline EU public procurement regulation and developments as well as the market access challenges faced by European manufacturers on these markets and the efforts of the European industry to elicit a meaningful opening of the Japanese rail market within the ongoing Eu-Japan Free Trade Agreement negotiations.
