Recital 88

(88)Contracting authorities should be able to require that environmental management measures or schemes be applied during the performance of a public contract. Environmental management schemes, whether or not they are registered under Union instruments such as Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council ¹⁵ , can demonstrate that the economic operator has the technical capability to perform the contract. This includes Ecolabel certificates involving environmental management criteria. Where an economic operator has no access to such environmental management registration schemes or no possibility of obtaining them within the relevant time limits, it should be allowed to submit a description of the environmental management measures implemented, provided that the economic operator concerned demonstrates that those measures ensure the same level of environmental protection as the measures required under the environmental management.