Technical specifications, labels and variants

Procedures & timing · 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 11 October 2026. Next review due by 11 October 2027, or sooner if the law changes. EU rules only. Not legal advice.

Short answer. The technical specifications say what the buyer wants. EU law leaves the buyer a broad choice of what to require, but it limits how the requirement may be written. Specifications must give equal access and must not create unjustified obstacles to competition (Article 42(2)). The buyer may describe performance or function, refer to standards, or combine the two, and the list of methods is exhaustive (Article 42(3); C‑424/23). A reference to a standard, a brand or a type normally has to come with the words “or equivalent”. In works contracts, the Court has said the same of a required material (C‑424/23). If you offer an equivalent, the burden is on you: prove it in your tender, by any appropriate means. A label may be required only under strict conditions, and equivalent labels must be accepted. Variants are allowed only if the notice says so.

EU law · What a technical specification is

A technical specification lays down “the characteristics required of a works, service or supply”. It may also cover the process or method of production, or another stage of the life cycle, “even where such factors do not form part of their material substance”, provided they are “linked to the subject-matter of the contract and proportionate to its value and its objectives” (Article 42(1)). For supply and service contracts, Annex VII describes a specification as a document defining the required characteristics of a product or service, “such as quality levels, environmental and climate performance levels” and others (Annex VII, point 1(b)).

Where the purchase will be used by people, the specifications must, except in duly justified cases, take account of accessibility for persons with disabilities or design for all users (Article 42(1)).

The governing principle. “Technical specifications shall afford equal access of economic operators to the procurement procedure and shall not have the effect of creating unjustified obstacles to the opening up of public procurement to competition” (Article 42(2)). Recital 74 explains the aim: specifications should avoid “artificially narrowing down competition through requirements that favour a specific economic operator by mirroring key characteristics of the supplies, services or works habitually offered by that economic operator”. It adds that functional and performance requirements generally achieve that best.

EU law · The four ways to write a specification

Without prejudice to mandatory national technical rules compatible with EU law, specifications must be formulated in one of these ways (Article 42(3)):

The examples in the table are made up. The Court has held that this list is exhaustive, subject to mandatory national technical rules compatible with EU law and to Article 42(4) (DYKA Plastics, C‑424/23, ruling point 1). And it has held that the methods are not ranked: the wording “does not establish a hierarchy” among them, and the buyer has “broad discretion” in formulating specifications, because it is better placed to know what it needs (Roche Lietuva, C‑413/17, paragraphs 28–30).

EU law · Brands, types, materials and “or equivalent”

“Unless justified by the subject-matter of the contract, technical specifications shall not refer to a specific make or source, or a particular process which characterises the products or services provided by a specific economic operator, or to trade marks, patents, types or a specific origin or production with the effect of favouring or eliminating certain undertakings or certain products” (Article 42(4)). Such a reference is allowed “on an exceptional basis”, where a sufficiently precise and intelligible description isn’t otherwise possible, and it “shall be accompanied by the words ‘or equivalent’”.

The Court has applied this to materials. In DYKA Plastics (C‑424/23), a Belgian network operator’s drainage tenders required sewage pipes made of vitrified clay and concrete (paragraph 2). DYKA, which makes plastic pipes, was shut out. The Court held that a buyer may not, without adding “or equivalent”, state the materials of which the products in a works contract must be made, “unless the use of a particular material follows inevitably from the subject matter of the contract, it not being possible to contemplate an alternative based on a different technical solution” (ruling point 2). It added that equal access and the ban on unjustified obstacles “are necessarily infringed” where a buyer eliminates undertakings or products by a specification incompatible with Article 42(3) and (4) (ruling point 3).

Standards too. Under method (b), every reference to a standard must carry “or equivalent”. The Court has held that a Member State may require “or equivalent” in all such cases, including for harmonised standards for construction products (Obshtina Pleven, C‑513/23, ruling).

Origin. Under the earlier Directive, the Court held that a clause requiring plasma-derived medicinal products to be made from plasma collected in the buyer’s own Member State was precluded, read with the Treaty rules on the free movement of goods (Medisanus, C‑296/15, ruling).

EU law · Proving equivalence

• Against a standard (method (b)). The buyer “shall not reject a tender on the grounds that the works, supplies or services tendered for do not comply with the technical specifications to which it has referred, once the tenderer proves in its tender by any appropriate means … that the solutions proposed satisfy in an equivalent manner the requirements” (Article 42(5)).
• Against performance requirements (method (a)). The buyer can’t reject a tender that complies with a European or international standard or another listed reference system, where those address the performance or functional requirements it has set. You must prove in your tender, by any appropriate means, that the standard-compliant solution meets those requirements (Article 42(6)).
• Means of proof. The buyer may require test reports or certificates from accredited conformity assessment bodies. If it names a specific body, it must accept certificates from equivalent bodies. Where you had no access to those documents, or couldn’t obtain them in time, for reasons not attributable to you, the buyer must accept other appropriate means, such as a manufacturer’s technical dossier, provided you prove compliance with them (Article 44(1) and (2)).
• If you lose on equivalence. On written request, a rejected tenderer is entitled to “the reasons for its decision of non-equivalence or its decision that the works, supplies or services do not meet the performance or functional requirements” (Article 55(2)(b); see after the award decision).

Note the words “in its tender”. The proof has to be there when you submit. A missing equivalence file is not something to count on fixing after the deadline (see when the buyer asks you to clarify your tender).

EU law · Labels

A buyer that wants works, supplies or services “with specific environmental, social or other characteristics” may require a specific label, in the technical specifications, the award criteria or the contract performance conditions, as proof that they have those characteristics. All of these conditions must be met (Article 43(1)):

1. the label requirements only concern criteria linked to the subject-matter of the contract and appropriate to define its characteristics;
2. they are based on objectively verifiable and non-discriminatory criteria;
3. the label is established in an open and transparent procedure in which all relevant stakeholders may participate;
4. it is accessible to all interested parties;
5. the requirements are set by a third party over which the applicant can’t exercise a decisive influence.

The buyer “shall accept all labels that confirm that the works, supplies or services meet equivalent label requirements”. If you demonstrably couldn’t obtain the label, or an equivalent one, in time, for reasons not attributable to you, it must accept other appropriate means, such as a manufacturer’s technical dossier, provided you prove that the requirements are met (Article 43(1)). If a label also contains requirements not linked to the subject-matter, the buyer can’t require the label as such. It may only refer to those of its detailed specifications that are linked (Article 43(2)).

Before 2014. Under the earlier Directive, the Court found that a Dutch province breached the rules in a tender for coffee machines and supplies. It had required products to bear a specific eco-label instead of using detailed specifications. It had also awarded points for specific labels without listing the criteria behind them, and without allowing proof by all appropriate means (Commission v Netherlands, C‑368/10, operative part). Article 43 now sets out when a specific label may be required. The case shows why the conditions matter.

EU law · Variants

• Only if announced. A buyer may authorise or require variants. It must say so in the contract notice, or the invitation to confirm interest, and “variants shall not be authorised without such indication”. Variants must be linked to the subject-matter (Article 45(1)).
• Minimum requirements. The documents must state the minimum requirements for variants and any presentation rules, in particular whether a variant may be submitted only with a conforming tender. The award criteria must work for both (Article 45(2)).
• What is considered. Only variants meeting the minimum requirements are taken into account. In supply and service contracts, a variant can’t be rejected solely because it would turn a supply contract into a service contract, or the reverse (Article 45(3)).

Recital 48 encourages buyers “to allow variants as often as possible”, because of the importance of innovation.

EU law · Specification, selection criterion or performance condition?

The same requirement can sit in more than one place. In a refuse-collection tender, vehicles had to meet the Euro 5 emissions standard, carry a GPS transmitter and have adequate capacity. The Court held that a technical requirement can be treated at the same time as a selection criterion on technical ability, a technical specification and a contract performance condition (Klaipėdos regiono atliekų tvarkymo centras, C‑927/19, ruling point 3 and paragraphs 83–84).

The classification matters for when you must prove it. In Sanresa (C‑295/20), the obligation to hold consents for shipping waste abroad was a condition of performance. A tender could not be rejected solely because the tenderer had not proved, when submitting it, that it met that condition (ruling points 1 and 2). So read where the documents place a requirement: a specification is met in the tender, a performance condition during the contract (Article 70), and a selection criterion with the evidence the notice asks for (see selection criteria).

What the later case law adds

On 11 October 2026 we searched the 198 judgments and orders that the EU Publications Office links to Directive 2014/24, or to Directive 2004/18 from 14 July 2016 (154 with an English text). Six refer to Article 42 of Directive 2014/24. The ones that decide something about specifications are cited above. None interprets Article 43, 44 or 45 directly. The method is described in our analysis of the scoring formula.

National law · Where your country may add rules

Mandatory national technical rules apply alongside Article 42(3), so long as they’re compatible with EU law. Member States may also go further than the Directive, as Bulgaria did by requiring “or equivalent” for every reference to a standard (C‑513/23). Check the national rules and the documents.

Our analysis · Reading a specification as a bidder

This table is our reading of Articles 42 to 45 and the cases above. A given procedure may differ.

When “very detailed” becomes a problem. Detail is allowed. The Court has said that the level of detail must not “indirectly favour a tenderer”, and that it must be proportionate, which means asking whether that level of detail is necessary to achieve the objectives (Roche Lietuva, C‑413/17, paragraphs 40–41). A specification that lists the exact dimensions, tolerances and features of one product, with no functional reason given, is the pattern to question.

Practice · Before you bid

1. Check every reference to a brand, type, origin, standard or material. Is “or equivalent” there? If not, ask why, in a clarification question and in good time.
2. Ask for the function behind a requirement. “What performance does requirement 4.3 serve?” invites an answer that opens the door to equivalents.
3. Build the equivalence file while you prepare the tender, not after. It has to be in the tender (Article 42(5) and (6)).
4. Use accredited evidence where you can. Test reports and certificates from accredited bodies are the default means of proof (Article 44(1)).
5. For labels, check equivalents early. If you can’t get the named label in time for reasons beyond your control, document why and prepare the alternative proof (Article 43(1)).
6. Offer a variant only if the notice allows it, and only alongside a conforming tender if the documents require that.
7. Raise a discriminatory specification before the deadline. Review bodies can set aside “discriminatory technical, economic or financial specifications” (Article 2(1)(b) of Directive 89/665), and raising it early is cheaper (see challenging an award decision).
8. If you’re rejected on equivalence, ask for the reasons in writing (Article 55(2)(b)).

What this page doesn’t cover

Mandatory national technical rules and national standards. The content of individual European standards. Utilities and defence contracts. Green and social criteria in award criteria (see how quality is scored and scoring higher wages). Contract performance conditions in detail (Article 70). Contracts in the UK.