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The Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) has been developed by the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
to facilitate the processing of
invitation to tender An invitation to tender (ITT, otherwise known as a call for bids or a request for tenders) is a formal, structured procedure for generating competing offers from different potential suppliers or contractors looking to obtain an award of business ...
published in the
Official Journal of the European Union An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...
(OJEU) by means of a single classification system to describe the subject matter of public contracts. It was established by Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) and amended by European Commission Regulation (EU) No. 213/2008 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32008R0213&qid=1429986881823&from=EN issued on 28 November 2007.


Description

CPV codification consists of a main vocabulary which defines the subject of the contract, and a supplementary vocabulary to add further qualitative information. The main vocabulary is based on a tree structure made up with codes of up to 9 digits (an 8 digit code plus a check digit). This combination of digits is associated with a wording that describes the type of supplies, works or services defining the subject of the contract. A Call for Tender is quite often described by more than one CPV Code, aiming to give a better and more detailed description of the object of the contract. Commercial organisations promoting public contracts to their members or readers generally use CPV codes to identify business sectors likely to be interested in specific tenders, along with NUTS Codes which indicate the country and region within which the contract is to be performed. Main Vocabulary classification structure The numerical code consists of 8 digits, subdivided into: Divisions: first two digits of the code XX000000-Y. Groups: first three digits of the code XXX00000-Y. Classes: first four digits of the code XXXX0000-Y. Categories: first five digits of the code XXXXX000-Y.


Examples

Some examples (taken from the 2008 amended version) are: 03113100-7 Sugar beet 03113200-8 Sugar cane 18451000-5 Buttons 18453000-9 Zip fasteners 71355000-1 Surveying services 71355200-3 Ordnance surveying Each of the last three digits of the code allows to provide a more precise description of the subject within each category. The ninth digit, the so-called "control digit", verifies the previous eight ones, avoiding any possible error in the assignation of codes to the subject of public procurement


Supplementary Vocabulary

Although the Supplementary Vocabulary is not always used, it can be added in certain cases to expand the description of the subject of a contract. It is made up of an alphanumeric code with a corresponding wording allowing further details to be added regarding the specific nature, purpose or context of the goods or services to be purchased: for example, specific metals may be designated e.g. AA08-2 ( Tin) or AA09-5 (
Zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
); food form may be designated e.g. BA04-1 (Fresh), BA06-7 (Hot) or BA24-1 (Frozen); and users or beneficiaries may be designated e.g. EA02-8 (for children) or EA07-3 (for pregnant women). The Supplementary Vocabulary was reconstructed and enriched in the 2008 revision. The alphanumeric code includes the following levels: * first level comprising a letter corresponding to a section; * second level comprising four digits: three to denote a subdivision and the last one for verification purposes.


External sources


Summaries of EU legislation > Internal market > Businesses in the internal market > Public procurement > Common procurement vocabulary

CVP 2008 Explanatory Notes

Information about European public procurement

CPV-Code Search Engine & Supplier Directory


References

{{Reflist Government procurement in the European Union