The paper concerns the situation where public sector bodies are forced
to enter into contracts. These obligations to contract are analysed from two
angles. First, the paper offers an analysis of the reasons for imposing such
obligations to contract under Swedish and Danish law. Secondly the paper
discusses some consequences of the public entities’ obligations to contract, more specific consequences for the use of rules that usually regulate contracts and the fact that obligations to contract imposed on public entities establish a new market and at the same time the obligations deprive the entities of the freedom to contract which is a fundamental to market behaviour. Finally attention is drawn to the fact that obligations to contract are also imposed on private entities. The paper takes Swedish and Danish regulations as a point of departure and provides an insight into regulations from these two countries imposing obligations to contract, offering a number of examples of such regulations. Moreover, since obligation to contract and freedom to contract are universal concepts, the paper is of relevance to all countries that have similar regulations including other EU Member States.