17 Aug 2022 11:54

Estonia orders termination of public procurement contracts with Russian companies by Oct 10

TALLINN. Aug 17 (Interfax) - The Estonian authorities have said that all public procurement contracts signed with Russian companies must be terminated before October 10.

"Amendments to the public procurement law came into force this week, simplifying the implementation of sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russian companies. Entrepreneurs affiliated with Russia are banned from our public procurement," Estonian Minister of Public Administration Riina Solman said on Wednesday.

The measure bans signing new public procurement contract or executing public procurement contracts earlier signed with Russian citizens, enterprises, organizations, or other entities, Solman said. The aforementioned institutions cannot act as suppliers or subcontractors either. The ban also applies to signing contracts on deliveries or extending them if the entrepreneur in question is not subject to sanctions or is not affiliated with a sanctioned company, but supplies products to which international sanctions apply.

"We understand that the termination of already signed contracts on deliveries may put the customer in a difficult position. Therefore, a transitional period will be granted in order to avoid it. Even though an earlier signed contract violates the sanctions introduced on April 9 and it is valid until October 10, it may continue to be implemented. Contracts that expire after October 10 will have to be terminated by this date at the latest," Solman said.

The European Union on April 8 adopted Regulation 2022/576 on restrictive measures in view of Russia's military activities in Ukraine. The regulation also applies to public procurement contracts. Estonian companies signed 44 supply contracts with Russian companies from 2015-2021.