Because the Federal Republic of Germany has not properly implemented EU directives on public procurement, the European Commission decided on 18 June 2020 to initiate infringement proceedings before the European Court of Justice. This relates to Directives 2014/24/EU and 2014/23/EU, which Germany has implemented through amendments to the Act against Restraints of Competition and the Act on the Modernisation of Public Procurement Law. In the opinion of the EU Commission, however, this has been done inadequately, which is why it has been calling on Germany to make improvements since 2019.

The Commission criticises the fact that, under German law, contracting authorities are not obliged to provide bidders with detailed information after the contract has been concluded in order to allow the shortened period for access to a review to begin. This would make it more difficult for bidders to decide whether and when they want to initiate a review. The term „contracting authority“ is also not clearly defined in German law, which makes it more difficult to select the appropriate award procedure. Furthermore, the Commission criticises the fact that contracting authorities in the postal sector do not have to apply the regulations for public procurement under German law.