Entering Luxembourg through distributors: a cross-border market, one portal and a cautious first contact

Luxembourg suits a manufacturer that already sells in Belgium, France or Germany: it is a small market whose public buyers often order from distributors based across the border, and a partner that serves its home market may already be bidding in Luxembourg.

Putting it simply: Luxembourg's ministries, municipalities, hospitals and public bodies publish their tenders on one national portal, the Portail des marchés publics, and the larger awards also appear on TED. In our analysis of TED award notices for supplies (November 2026), 68.7% of the awards in the 411 notices from buyers in Luxembourg since the start of 2024 went to companies registered in the country, and most of the rest went to companies from Belgium, France and Germany. Buyers expect documents in French or German, electronic bids, and since March 2023 every invoice to a public body must be electronic. The rule on cold business e-mail is not settled, so write to a generic company address in French with an opt-out, or send a letter.

How the market buys

A market served from both sides of the border

In technical and professional categories the usual route is a distributor that holds stock, delivers, services and prepares bids. In Luxembourg that distributor is often not Luxembourgish. Of the 1,057 awards in our TED analysis, 68.7% went to companies registered in Luxembourg; counted by company, local firms make up 54.4% of the 386 winners. Over the last twelve months the local share of awards was 70.1%, so the pattern is stable. Among foreign winners, Belgian companies lead clearly with 196 awards won by 79 companies, followed by French (40 awards, 20 companies), German (22 awards, 21 companies), Italian (16), Dutch (14) and British (6) companies. Local and foreign winners alike include independent distributors as well as manufacturers' own subsidiaries (see our methodology).

That gives a manufacturer two doors. One is a Luxembourg distributor, close to the buyer and able to deliver and service within hours. The other is a Belgian, French or German distributor that already wins Luxembourg tenders from its home base, and can add Luxembourg to a territory you may already be discussing with it. When you agree territory with a partner in any of the three neighbours, ask whether it bids in Luxembourg, and state the answer in the contract.

Where the demand sits

TED shows where Luxembourg buys supplies above the EU thresholds, and how open each category is. By number of notices, the largest divisions are transport equipment (101 notices, 89.3% of awards to local companies), office and computing equipment (58 notices, 76.7%), software packages and information systems (39 notices, 64.6%), medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (32 notices, 47.1%), food and beverages (24 notices, 54.0%), and laboratory, optical and precision equipment (24 notices, 30.8%). In medical and laboratory supplies more than half of the awards went to companies registered outside Luxembourg, which is where a foreign distributor or a foreign manufacturer's partner is most likely to be the incumbent.

The market is small. The 411 notices since the start of 2024 came from 96 buyers, and a narrow CPV category may see only a few notices a year. A distributor will judge your brand by whether it helps it win the next one.

Trade fairs

Luxembourg's main exhibition centre is Luxexpo The Box in Kirchberg. For food service and catering equipment, Expogast and the RAK Culinary World Cup run there from 21 to 25 November 2026, bringing together chefs and catering professionals. For most industries the relevant fairs are the large ones in Belgium, France and Germany; the Cresques events pages list trade fairs and congresses by industry.

The proof Luxembourg buyers expect

Documents in French or German

Under the Languages Law of 24 February 1984, Luxembourgish is the national language (article 1), laws are drafted in French (article 2), and French, German or Luxembourgish may be used in administrative and judicial matters (article 3). At work French is the main language of communication, while English is very frequently used in business meetings between people of different nationalities.

In a tender, the bid is filled in in the language of the tender specifications unless they provide otherwise (Règlement grand-ducal of 8 April 2018, article 55), and the buyer may ask, at the bidder's cost, for a translation of any document into one of the three administrative languages (articles 20 and 68). In practice, prepare technical sheets, instructions, declarations and price lists in French first, with German versions where the distributor's customers work in German.

Conformity evidence

CE marking under the EU legislation that applies to your product is the baseline. Expect a distributor to ask for the declaration of conformity and the test reports behind it, because public buyers ask for them in the tender.

A company record that can be checked

Luxembourg Business Registers runs the trade and companies register (RCS), the register of beneficial owners (RBE) and the electronic compendium of companies and associations (RESA); anyone can consult a company there and order extracts and certificates. Check a prospective partner there, and for a Belgian, French or German partner in its own national register. Have your own register extract and VAT number ready, because the distributor will need them for its bids.

Invoicing

Since 18 March 2023, economic operators that carry out works, supply products or provide services to Luxembourg public-sector bodies, whatever the size of the contract, must invoice electronically. The amended Law of 16 May 2019 on electronic invoicing in public procurement and concession contracts requires operators to issue and send every invoice to contracting authorities as an electronic invoice that follows the European e-invoicing standard (article 4bis; the obligation was phased in by company size, and 18 March 2023 was the last date, as circular no. 2023-024 of the Ministry of the Interior reminded municipalities). Public bodies receive these invoices through the Peppol network, and a supplier without its own Peppol access point can enter its invoice in an online form on MyGuichet.lu. The government's notice says the obligation applies only within a public contract or concession, and that the MyGuichet.lu procedure is open to operators without a VAT number.

This matters most for your distributor, which invoices the buyer. If you will invoice a Luxembourg public body directly, plan for Peppol or MyGuichet.lu from the first order, and check the details with your tax adviser.

Payment terms

Under the amended Law of 18 April 2004 on payment terms and late-payment interest, an agreed payment term between businesses may not exceed 60 days unless expressly agreed otherwise and not grossly unfair to the creditor (article 3(4)); where no term is agreed, late-payment interest runs 30 days after the invoice is received (article 3(3)). Where the debtor is a public authority, the term may not exceed 30 days, and a longer term, never beyond 60 days, is allowed only by express agreement objectively justified by the nature of the contract (article 4(3) and (4)). Late-payment interest is the reference rate plus eight percentage points (article 1), and the creditor may also claim a flat €40 for recovery costs (article 5). Under the Law of 8 April 2018, a public buyer may pay instalments only for work, supplies or services delivered and accepted (article 46). Agree terms with your distributor that allow for these cycles, and check contract terms with your adviser.

Where public demand is visible

Luxembourg procurement is organised by the estimated value of the contract excluding VAT. The figures below are those published by the Direction des marchés publics for 2026.

• Up to €79,000: the buyer may use the negotiated procedure or the restricted procedure without a notice without further justification (article 151 of the implementing regulation of 8 April 2018, as amended by the Grand-Ducal Regulation of 29 May 2024, which raised this fixed amount from €60,000; it is not indexed each year). These procedures need no published contract notice (Law of 8 April 2018, article 10).
• From €79,000 to €144,986.80: the same procedures remain available, provided the buyer invites at least three candidates to bid or admits at least three to negotiations, where enough suitable candidates exist. The upper figure is the 2026 value of the €14,000 threshold at index 100 in article 20(3) of the law, adjusted every 1 January to the consumer price index (article 160). Central government bodies buying supplies or services above €140,000 must use the Book II procedures instead.
• Above that, and below the EU thresholds: the open procedure is the rule (article 18), and open procedures are published electronically on the Portail des marchés publics (implementing regulation, article 44).
• EU thresholds: from 1 January 2026, €140,000 for supplies and services bought by central government authorities and €216,000 for other contracting authorities (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152; Law of 8 April 2018, article 52). These notices also go to the Official Journal of the EU and appear on TED.

The Portail des marchés publics is the platform for publishing notices, making tender documents available, and receiving bids and all communication during a procedure (implementing regulation, article 270). Anyone can search notices there and download tender documents free of charge, and the portal also lists award notices. Many small purchases below €79,000 never reach a public notice, which is one more reason buyers rely on suppliers they already know.

One rule favours local presence directly. For municipal contracts up to €20,000 at index 100 (indexed each year under article 160), the college of mayor and aldermen may award the contract to a bidder resident in the municipality if its price is no more than 5% above the best offer (Law of 8 April 2018, article 49).

On TED, Luxembourg's coverage in our data starts with the switch to eForms in January 2024, so our figures run from the start of 2024. In that period the number of notices rose from 110 in 2024 to 169 in 2025, with 132 so far in 2026.

Lawful first contact

Luxembourg's rule on cold business e-mail is not settled. Article 11(1) of the amended Law of 30 May 2005 on privacy in electronic communications allows e-mail for direct prospecting only if it targets a subscriber or user who has given prior consent. Article 11(5) then says that paragraphs (1) and (3) apply to the subscriber who is a natural person, which, read alone, leaves companies outside the consent rule. The difficulty is the word "user": the law defines a user as a natural or legal person who uses an electronic communications service for private or professional purposes, which can include an employee at a work address, and paragraph (5) does not say how the consent rule applies to users. The data protection authority, CNPD, summarises the rule as protecting natural persons from unsolicited commercial e-mail without prior consent, and we found no CNPD guidance that settles business e-mail.

What is clear: a marketing e-mail must not disguise the sender's identity and must give a valid address for requests to stop (article 11(4)). A breach is punishable by imprisonment of eight days to one year and a fine of €251 to €125,000, or either (article 11(6)).

The cautious route: write to a company's generic address, in French, with your full identity and an opt-out; treat named addresses as needing consent; and prefer a letter, a trade fair or an introduction for a first approach to a named director. If your target is a Belgian, French or German distributor that serves Luxembourg, the rules of its own country apply to that contact; check them before you write. This is a summary, not legal advice; check your outreach plan with your adviser. The Luxembourg market page sets out the rule and the steps.

What this means for a manufacturer

• Look on both sides of the border: find who wins your CPV codes in Luxembourg on TED and the Portail des marchés publics, and note which winners are Belgian, French or German.
• Ask partners in Belgium, France and Germany whether they bid in Luxembourg, and put the answer in the territory clause.
• Prepare French documents first, with German versions where needed: technical sheets, instructions, declarations and price lists, ready for an electronic bid.
• Check each candidate in the Luxembourg Business Registers or its home register, and have your own extract and VAT number ready.
• Plan for electronic invoicing over Peppol or MyGuichet.lu on anything that reaches a public buyer, and payment terms of 30 days, at most 60, where public money is involved.
• Make the first contact by letter, at a fair or through an introduction, or e-mail a generic company address in French with your identity and an opt-out.

Where Cresques fits

Create a market for Luxembourg, choose your CPV categories (or let the materials reader suggest them from a brochure or website), and Cresques shows the companies named in TED award notices for those categories, with personal details removed, including the Belgian, French and German companies that win there, along with the trade fairs where your industry meets. A company profile shows every award with value and buyer and an AI-researched role, distinguishing an independent distributor from a manufacturer's own subsidiary. The first message is drafted in French, with an English version, together with advice on the channel, which for Luxembourg is the cautious route of a generic address or a letter; you send it yourself. On paid plans you can follow the market and receive e-mail alerts on new awards. Below the EU thresholds, Cresques does not show Luxembourg awards; search the Portail des marchés publics yourself.