The Senator for Finances of the State of Bremen (Germany) will host the final LANDMARK Conference on 27 March 2014. The conference will address the challenges of verifying social responsibility, particularly in light of the recently adopted EU Procurement Directives, which strengthen the use of social criteria in public tenders. Participation is free of charge, but registration is necessary to ensure a place.

Keynote speeches will be given by two key figures in the field of sustainable public procurement: Dr Matthias Zieres of Hübinger Advocates (Germany), who will discuss changes in socially responsible public procurement with regard to the new EU Procurement Directives; and Binar Kumar Choudhury, a Textile Division Manager and Auditor from Navi Mumbai (India), who will give an insight into her experiences of the chances and challenges raised by auditing production lines for public procurement.

Challenges and solutions facing socially responsible public procurement will be discussed at a roundtable discussion including procurers, policy makers, business, NGOs and auditors.

There will be four workshops in the afternoon, looking at the following topics: what other European countries may learn from supply chain monitoring in public procurement in Scandinavia; how public procurers can gain competences in applying social criteria; reliable verification: labels, auditing systems and other schemes; and fair trade cotton and supply chain justice in public procurement.

Please find further information about the programme and other practical information (conference venue, arrival, accommodation etc.) on the event website.

Results of the conference will be presented here.