A paper, Government Procurement in the WTO (2015), prepared for the Institute of International Economic Law’s 10th Annual Academy of WTO Law & Policy is available in the Djaghe White Papers library. The paper is a substantial expansion and update
At a June 3 meeting, the WTO Committee on Government Procurement saw progress on efforts to expand the membership of the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) and to fully implement its recent revision. Of particular significance, Australia has finally
In 2014, the major developments in international procurement centered on the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. In 2014, the implementation of a major revision of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) was the most significant development. In
Exclusion of government procurement from multilateral trade agreements: Government procurement is excluded from the national treatment obligations in both the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which covers goods, and the WTO General Agreement on
Montenegro and New Zealand are joining the GPA, bringing the GPA roster to 45 WTO Members. On October 29, 2014, the WTO Committee on Government Procurement approved Montenegro and New Zealand for membership in the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA).
The BRICS have not yet opened procurement under international agreements, but several have obligations to do so. None of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) has joined the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA). However,
The American Chamber of Commerce in China has pointed out deficiencies in China’s GPA offers that will need to be addressed to bring the procurement China will cover under the GPA to the level of other parties. As noted in an earlier posting, China
Chile, Colombia or Peru should lead Latin America into the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. The 43 WTO members covered by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) do not include any members from Latin America. Moreover, only four Latin American
The enlargement of the European Union has been the major contributor to the expansion of the membership in the GPA. On May 1, 2014, the European Union (EU) marked the 10th anniversary of its 2004 enlargement in which it added 10 new member states (Cyprus,
The revision of the GPA has entered into force — nearly 15 years after negotiations began. On April 6, 2014, the Parties to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) reached a major milestone with implementation of the revision of the GPA. This