The ESPD: who fills it in, and what it commits you to

Eligibility · This guide was generated with the help of an AI system. Its legal references were checked against the official EU texts listed under Sources on 10 October 2026. Next review due by 10 October 2027, or sooner if the law changes. EU rules only. Not legal advice.

Short answer. The ESPD is a self-declaration, in a standard EU form, that you aren’t in an exclusion situation and that you meet the selection criteria (Article 59(1)). Buyers must accept it with your tender instead of certificates. It is provided electronically only (Article 59(2)). You fill in one for yourself, a separate one for every entity whose capacities you rely on, and, in a group, one for each member. In it you also confirm that you can provide the supporting documents on request and without delay. The buyer can ask for them at any time and must ask the winner before the award (Article 59(4)). Every answer is a statement you may have to prove, and misleading information is itself a ground for exclusion.

EU law · What the ESPD is

The ESPD is “an updated self-declaration as preliminary evidence in replacement of certificates” confirming that you aren’t in an Article 57 exclusion situation, that you meet the relevant Article 58 selection criteria, and, where they apply, the criteria used to short-list candidates under Article 65 (Article 59(1)). It also:

• names the authority or third party that issues the supporting documents, with a formal statement that you can provide them “upon request and without delay”;
• gives the details the buyer needs to fetch documents itself from a free national database, where one exists (Article 59(1) and (5)).

The form is set by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/7 (Annex 2), with instructions in its Annex 1 (Article 1 of the Regulation; Article 59(2) of the Directive).

Reuse. You may reuse an ESPD from a previous procedure if you confirm the information is still correct (Article 59(1)).

EU law · The six parts

Section α. You fill in only the global indication for all selection criteria if the buyer has said, in the notice or the documents, that you may limit yourself to it. Otherwise you complete sections A to D as required (Regulation 2016/7, Annex 2, Part IV).

EU law · Who needs an ESPD

What the Court has added:

• A joint undertaking that is a registered firm under national law, but not a legal person, files only its own ESPD if it can perform with its own staff and resources. If it relies on its partners’ resources, that is reliance on other entities, and each such partner needs an ESPD (C‑631/21).
• A national rule allowing the relied-on entity’s qualification documents and commitment to be submitted only after the award is precluded (Ambisig, C‑469/22, order).
• Your own wholly owned subsidiary is an “other entity”. If its ESPD is missing from your tender, you can’t be excluded on that ground alone: the omission may be rectified, unless national law precludes it, in line with equal treatment and transparency (C‑812/24).

Our analysis · What the ESPD commits you to

The ESPD defers proof, but it doesn’t remove it. Three consequences follow from the provisions above:

1. The statements must be true when made. Serious misrepresentation, withholding information, or being unable to provide the supporting documents is an exclusion ground in its own right (Article 57(4)(h)). So is negligently giving misleading information that may materially affect decisions (Article 57(4)(i)).
2. The evidence must be ready. The buyer “may ask … at any moment during the procedure” for all or part of the supporting documents, and must ask the winner before the award, except for certain framework call-offs (Article 59(4)).
3. Partners’ statements are your risk too. An entity you rely on is checked like you are, and may have to be replaced (Article 63(1); see exclusion grounds).

You don’t have to provide documents the buyer can get directly from a free national database, or that it already holds from an earlier award (Article 59(5)).

Practice · Filling it in

1. Use the version the buyer provides. The buyer must say what information it requires, including whether subcontractors you don’t rely on must be covered (Regulation 2016/7, Annex 1).
2. Answer Part III for every person it covers, including members of your management and supervisory bodies for convictions (Article 57(1)). If a ground applies, describe your self-cleaning measures where the form asks (see self-cleaning: what the Court has said).
3. Match Part IV to the notice. Give figures and references that meet each minimum, for the periods allowed.
4. Collect partners’ ESPDs early and check them as carefully as your own.
5. Keep a folder of the supporting documents behind each statement, current enough to send at short notice.
6. When reusing an ESPD, re-read it. Reuse requires you to confirm that the information is still correct (Article 59(1)).

What this page doesn’t cover

National e-procurement platforms and their ESPD tools. Utilities procurement. The e-Certis repository of certificates in detail (Article 61). The electronic eligibility service the Commission proposed in 2026 in place of the ESPD, which isn’t law (see what the proposed Public Procurement Act would change).