Exclusion grounds: when a buyer can or must exclude you

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. Some grounds force the buyer to exclude you: a final conviction for one of six serious offences, or unpaid taxes or social security established by a final decision (Article 57(1) and (2)). Nine more grounds let the buyer exclude you, or let national law require it: from breaches of environmental, social and labour law to serious deficiencies on a previous contract, competition infringements and misleading information (Article 57(4)). For the convictions in Article 57(1) and the optional grounds in Article 57(4), you can avoid exclusion by proving you have put things right (“self-cleaning”, Article 57(6)), unless a final judgment excludes you from procurement for the period concerned. For taxes and social security, paying or entering into a binding arrangement to pay takes you out of the ground (Article 57(2)). An exclusion without self-cleaning can’t last more than five years from a conviction, or three years from the event for the optional grounds (Article 57(7)). The same grounds are checked for partners whose capacities you rely on, and can be checked for subcontractors.

EU law · Mandatory grounds

Convictions (Article 57(1)). The buyer must exclude you where it has established, or is otherwise aware, that you have been convicted by final judgment of:

• participation in a criminal organisation;
• corruption;
• fraud against the EU’s financial interests;
• terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities;
• money laundering or terrorist financing;
• child labour and other forms of trafficking in human beings.

It also applies where the person convicted is a member of your administrative, management or supervisory body or has powers of representation, decision or control in your company.

Taxes and social security (Article 57(2)). Exclusion is mandatory where the buyer knows of a breach established by a judicial or administrative decision with final and binding effect. Even without such a decision, the buyer may exclude you, or national law may require it, if it can show a breach by any appropriate means. The ground no longer applies once you have paid or entered into a binding arrangement to pay, including any interest or fines.

Derogations (Article 57(3)). Member States may allow exceptions for overriding public-interest reasons such as public health, and for tax and social security where exclusion would be clearly disproportionate, for example for minor amounts.

EU law · Optional grounds

The buyer may exclude you, or national law may require it, in these situations (Article 57(4)):

The list is exhaustive for exclusion based on professional qualities, conflicts of interest or distortion of competition. The Court has, however, held that the principle of equal treatment in the utilities Directive (Article 36(1) of Directive 2014/25) can preclude awarding a contract to companies that form one economic unit and whose separate tenders aren’t autonomous and independent (C‑416/21).

Timing. Exclusion can happen at any point in the procedure, for acts before or during it (Article 57(5)).

Proportionality. Under the earlier Directive, national law could require the buyer to assess whether excluding a bidder for grave misconduct was proportionate. But where the tender conditions made exclusion compulsory, the buyer couldn’t rely on proportionality to keep that bidder in (Connexxion, C‑171/15).

EU law · Self-cleaning and how long exclusion lasts

If you’re in a situation under Article 57(1) or (4), you can give evidence that the measures you have taken are sufficient to show your reliability. If they are, you aren’t excluded. You must prove that you have (Article 57(6)):

1. paid or undertaken to pay compensation for any damage caused;
2. clarified the facts and circumstances comprehensively by actively collaborating with the investigating authorities;
3. taken concrete technical, organisational and personnel measures to prevent further offences or misconduct.

The measures are assessed against the gravity and circumstances of the case. If they’re found insufficient, you must get reasons. Self-cleaning isn’t available during an exclusion period imposed by final judgment, in the Member States where that judgment applies.

Where no self-cleaning measures are taken, Member States set the maximum exclusion period. Unless a final judgment sets it, it can’t exceed five years from the conviction for mandatory grounds, or three years “from the date of the relevant event” for optional grounds (Article 57(7)). For a competition infringement penalised by an authority, the period runs from the date of that authority’s decision (Vossloh Laeis, C‑124/17).

What the courts have said about when and how to present self-cleaning evidence is set out in our analysis of the self-cleaning case law.

EU law · Your partners

• Relied-on entities are checked for exclusion grounds. You must replace one with a compulsory ground and may be required to replace one with an optional ground (Article 63(1)).
• Subcontractors may be checked, if the buyer chooses or national law requires it, with the same replacement rules (Article 71(6)(b)).
• Group members are participants in their own right. See bidding with partners.

National law · What your country decides

Whether optional grounds are mandatory, the exact exclusion periods, how self-cleaning is assessed and by whom, and whether subcontractors are checked are all set nationally within Article 57(7). Check the national rules where you bid and the documents.

Practice · Before you bid

1. Run the list against your own company and the people in your management and supervisory bodies, not just the legal entity.
2. Check tax and social security status in each country where you’re established. A binding payment arrangement takes you out of Article 57(2).
3. Look back over your contract history: early terminations, damages, penalties. Under point (g) the question is the buyer’s own assessment of your reliability.
4. Check every partner you’ll rely on or name as a subcontractor.
5. If something applies, prepare a self-cleaning file now: compensation, cooperation with authorities, organisational and personnel measures, with evidence for each.
6. Answer the exclusion questions in the ESPD accurately. Misleading information is a ground of its own (point (h) and (i)).

What this page doesn’t cover

National exclusion registers and procedures. Utilities and defence contracts, except where cited. Criminal law aspects of the offences listed. Selection criteria, which concern ability rather than integrity. The longer list of mandatory grounds proposed by the Commission in 2026, without self-cleaning for them, isn’t law; it’s set out in what the proposed Public Procurement Act would change.