Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC.

This Directive establishes rules on the procedures for procurement by contracting authorities with respect to public contracts as well as design contests, whose value is estimated to be not less than the thresholds. Article 7 specifies that certain contracts in the water and energy sectors are excluded from the scope. Annex II lays down the list of activities. They include, among others, the construction of water projects. As a general rule, article 18 stipulates that Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that in the performance of public contracts economic operators comply with applicable obligations in the fields of environmental, social and labour law established by European Union law, national law, collective agreements or by the international environmental, social and labour law provisions listed in Annex X.