Article 129 · Harmonised standards for public procurement

1.The Commission may adopt a standardization request in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 for the drafting of harmonized standards, for the semantic data model and interoperability of the core elements of the following:

(a)the procurement procedures in accordance with this Regulation (the ‘harmonised standard for procurement procedures’); and

(b)at least the main elements of the procurement detail (the ‘harmonised standard for procurement detail’).

2.Standards adopted in accordance with paragraph 1 shall comply at least with the following criteria:

(a)they take into account existing Union tools and standards;

(b)they meet the requirement for the protection of personal data in accordance with Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725, in particular respecting the principles of ‘data protection by design’ and by default as laid down in Article 25 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 27 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725;

(c)they allow for the establishment of a secure, easily implementable, flexible, configurable and cost-efficient data exchange in all procurement procedures;

(d)they consider the particular needs of SMEs; and

(e)they consider the eProcurement ontology as a semantic framework standardising concept of Union public procurement.

3.Where the harmonised standard for procurement procedures or the harmonised standard for procurement detail, delivered following the request referred to in paragraph 1, complies with the requirements set out therein, the Commission shall publish the reference to that harmonised standard in the Official Journal of the European Union.