Article 4 — General principles
In brief
This article lays down the general principles governing R&D procurement. Public buyers must follow the Regulation and must not circumvent its obligations, treating economic operators equally and acting transparently and proportionately. It addresses the use of the Union’s official languages, free electronic access to procurement documents, the applicable standard forms for notices, and the strategic priorities of the Union that buyers must take into account.
Key points
- Requires equal treatment, non-discrimination, transparency and proportionality, and prohibits designs that artificially narrow competition or escape the Regulation.
- Allows procurement to be conducted in any official language of the Union, including for market consultation, tenders and communications.
- Requires free, unrestricted electronic access to procurement documents until three years after contract award, with communication where possible via the European Business Wallets or interoperable means.
- Requires use of the standard notice forms in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1780 where publication in the Official Journal is needed.
- Requires buyers to take account of Union strategic priorities, including competitiveness, climate and environmental objectives, a fair and inclusive society, and economic security and resilience.
What it means in practice
Public buyers must design and run R&D procurements in line with these principles, keep documents openly accessible by electronic means, and use the prescribed forms and communication channels. Economic operators, including start-ups and SMEs, gain assurance of equal treatment, multilingual participation and free access to documentation, and should expect tenders to reflect the listed Union priorities.
Official text — Article 4 (COM(2026) 567)
1. Public buyers shall carry out R&D procurement in accordance with the rules laid
down in this Regulation. Public buyers and economic operators shall not circumvent
or attempt to circumvent the obligations laid down in this Regulation.
2. Public buyers shall treat economic operators equally and without discrimination and
shall act in a transparent and proportionate manner. The R&D procurement shall not
be designed with the intention of excluding it from the scope of this Regulation or of
artificially narrowing competition. Competition shall be considered to be artificially
narrowed where the design of the R&D procurement is made with the intention of
unduly favouring or disadvantaging certain economic operators.
3. Public buyers may draw up the procurement documents and carry out R&D
procurement, including the market consultation, tendering and contract performance
activities, in any of the official languages of the Union and they may allow economic
operators to submit market consultation feedback, tenders, deliverables and any other
communication exchanges throughout the procurement in any of the official
languages of the Union.
4. Public buyers shall by electronic means ensure that economic operators that have
access to the procurement procedure have unrestricted and full direct access free of
charge to any electronic communication and to the procurement documents,
including documents prepared by public buyers for a market consultation, until three
years after the award of the R&D procurement contract. Where for certain parts of
these documents access by electronic means cannot be provided, public buyers shall
26 Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024
establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials and
amending Regulations (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1724 and (EU) 2019/1020 (OJ L,
2024/1252, 3.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1252/oj)
27 Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer
rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 304, 22.11.20 11, p. 64, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2011/83/oj)
indicate how these parts of the documents will be made available by other than
electronic means. Public buyers shall carry out all direct communication for R&D
procurement where possible by means of the European Business Wallets or by
alternative electronic means that that are interoperable with the European Business
Wallets.
5. In R&D procurement procedures requiring publication in the Official Journal of the
European Union , public buye rs shall use the applicable standard forms for notices
laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/178028.
6. Public buyers shall take appropriate measures to ensure that, in the performance of
R&D procurement contracts, economic operators co mply with applicable obligations
relating to the strategic priorities of the Union set out in the second subparagraph of
this paragraph, as established by Union law, national law, or collective agreements
and by the international environmental, social and labour law.
In cases where there are obligations as referred to in subparagraph 1, public buyers
shall design and execute their R&D procurement in a manner that takes into account
the strategic priorities of the Union, in particular:
(a) boosting the Union ’s competitiveness through a thriving internal market,
closing the innovation gap and reinforcing the Union’s manufacturing and
industrial base;
(b) the achievement of climate and environmental objectives of the Union;
(c) the pursuit of a fair and inclusive society;
(d) the Union's economic safety, security, resilience and economic security,
including through strategic independence.
Source: European Commission, proposal for a Regulation establishing the European Innovation Act, COM(2026) 567 final, 9 September 2026. Read the official proposal (PDF). Text may change during the legislative process.
Anthony Bochon’s analysis
This is the principles clause, and it does the work one expects: it restates equal treatment, non-discrimination, transparency and proportionality, and — importantly — an explicit anti-circumvention duty binding both buyers and operators. My reading of the prohibition on designs that artificially narrow competition is that it codifies existing Court of Justice case law on abusive tendering into a self-standing obligation, which should make it easier to challenge tailored specifications. I would also flag the openness to any official EU language and the reliance on European Business Wallets for communications, both of which are practical signals of how digital and multilingual this regime is meant to be.
What genuinely marks this provision out is paragraph 6, which ties contract performance to the Union’s strategic priorities — competitiveness, climate and environmental goals, social inclusion, and economic security. In advising innovative firms, I would treat these not as decorative recitals but as operative conditions that buyers may translate into enforceable requirements, and I expect their exact legal weight to be debated hard before adoption.