Reflexive Law and Conflicting Interests: The Regulation of Green Public Procurement.

In the era of sustainable development and environmentalism, one means of advancing environmental interests that has been put forward within the European Union and in Sweden (as well as in other places in the world) is public procurement. The legislative framework in place that regulates public procurement in Europe and in Swede has been amended in order to facilitate this development. The legislative framework leaves much discretion to the procurement officers in terms the application of the legislation in practice and empirical data has shown that it is up to them to weigh the environmental against the economic interests in the public procurement process when the particular situation requires it. The public procurement legislation is one example of the reflexive law that has been discussed by scholars (such as Teubner) and that epitomises the need for balancing different interests in society, such as environmental and economic interests. Green public procurement legislation is an example of how the legislator has tried to get around the problem of conflicting interests.The aim of this paper is to discuss the regulation of green public procurement in Sweden from a socio-legal perspective and in light of the reflexive law discourse. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]