The Adoption and Promotion of Environment Protection in Government Procurement: A Comparative Study on the Legislation of Taiwan and EU

Abstract

　　政府採購向來金額龐大，以民國 103 年為例，該年度機關辦理逾 10 萬元之採購決標總金額為 1 兆 1367 億餘元，同年度中央政府總預算歲出合計為 1 兆 9162 億餘元，政府採購金額約為總預算歲出的 60%，故就政府採購所制定之法規範具有實務上之重要性。復因政府之採購金額龐大，政府之採購偏好足以影響經濟運作與競爭秩序，因此各國政府經常藉以達成特定政策目標。 　　我國政府採購法第 96 條訂有採購環境保護產品之特別規定，環境保護在國家政策中、甚至國際社會中向來為重要議題，民國 90 年起，行政院核定實施之「機關綠色採購推動方案」、國家永續發展委員會提出之「台灣二十一世紀議程國家永續發展願景與策略綱領」和「永續發展政策綱領」等政策方案，都希望藉由政府採購達成環境保護的目標，我國簽屬之「政府採購協定」（Agreement on Government Procurement）亦於 2012 年修訂環境保護相關條款，然而我國政府採購「環保」之成效卻十分有限，同樣以民國 103 年為例，該年政府採購納入環境考量之比例，約僅為政府採購總金額的 0.5%、總預算歲出的 0.3%。因此，本論文嘗試探討我國政府採購納入環境考量之現行法規，是否符合憲法誡命、或是否存有更佳的立法方式，以回應國內政策的需求、並善盡國際義務。 　　本論文以憲法就環境保護和經濟秩序之規定探討為始，界定立法者具體化相關法令規定之立法形成界限，復以此為前理解，檢視現行規範是否妥適，初步認為政府採購法第 96 條之相關子法，有不當限縮環境保護範圍之嫌，因而手段不足以落實國家對環境的保護義務，可能係實務上納入環境考量比例不足的原因之一；因此以綠色政府採購（Green Public Procurement）成效顯著、且為「政府採購協定」修訂環境保護相關條款之原始提案國──即歐洲聯盟為研究對象，探討其政府採購法制設計，作為我國法制修正之參考。 　　本論文參酌歐洲聯盟採購法制，認為我國應放寬政府採購納入環境考量的範圍、增加可資運用之手段、於採購時計算產品生命週期費用並妥適運用環境標誌與宣告，進而提出初步修法解決之框架建議，以期環境保護能夠確切、妥適地於政府採購中落實。Government procurement has been constantly adopted as a policy tool in many countries for its profound effect on a nation’s economic performance and market competition. Legislation concerning government procurement becomes therefore important. According to Article 96 of Taiwan’s Government Procurement Act and other related regulations, procuring entities subjected to those provisions may provide preference to environmentally friendly products. Furthermore, as the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) was revised and come into force in 2014, it suggested that environment protection can be promoted via government procurement. As a consequence, the Executive Yuan formulated several policies to enhance environmentally friendly procurement. Nevertheless, such policies were not as effective as expected. Official statistics show that as government procurement value accounted for 60% of annual expenditures in 2014, the adoption and promotion of environment protection in that value merely accounted for 0.5%. Recognizing the problem, the thesis raises two questions: Is current legislation concerning environment protection in government procurement in accordance with the Constitution? Is there any better way to legislate? To begin with, the thesis first discusses the Constitution’s stipulation of environment protection and economic system to figure out the limit of legislative discretion. Secondly, by reviewing current legislation based on such limit, the thesis finds that neither the definition of “environment protection” nor the methods of priority procurement are appropriate. The thesis hence concludes that such inappropriateness of current legislation may be one of the reasons why those policies did not work out. Last but not least, the thesis has done a comparative study on government procurement legislation of the European Union (EU) to see how legislation in Taiwan may improve. While it is the first party to propose to amend the GPA by adding environment protection into the provisions, EU has also achieved remarkably in “Green Public Procurement” (GPP). In conclusion, the thesis has the following legislative suggestions: First, redefine “environment protection” in the Government Procurement Act and other related regulations. Second, add additional ways in current legislation for procuring entities to better adopt and promote of environment protection in government procurement, including using life-cycle costing and eco-labels