Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of the Protocol Amending the Agreement on Government Procurement

The Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) is to date the only legally binding agreement in the WTO on the subject of government procurement. Its present version was negotiated in parallel with the Uruguay Round in 1994, and entered into force on 1 January 1996 (the "1994 GPA").

The Parties to the 1994 GPA are: Armenia, Canada, European Union with respect to its 27 Member States, Hong Kong-China, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands with respect to Aruba, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, United States. It is administered by the Committee on Government Procurement (the “Committee”).

The 1994 GPA has contained a built-in commitment to negotiations on both the text and coverage of the Agreement since its adoption in 1994 (Article XXIV:7(b)). Negotiations to that end were launched in 1999. The purpose of the negotiations was three-fold: (i) to improve and update the 1994 GPA in the light of developments in information technology and procurement methods; (ii) to extend the coverage of the 1994 GPA; and (iii) to eliminate remaining discriminatory measures.

Negotiations have been conducted by the Commission. The Council was regularly informed orally and in writing about the state of play of the negotiations via the Trade Policy Committee. In addition, co-ordination meetings with Member States were held prior each negotiating session in Geneva. The European Parliament has been informed regularly in writing via the INTA Committee.

On 30 March 2012 the GPA Parties reached a political agreement and adopted a Decision whereby they adopted the elements of the results of the negotiations (“Decision on the Outcomes of the Negotiations”) consisting of: i) the Protocol amending the Agreement on Government Procurement (the "Protocol") and ii) seven Decisions of the Committee.

These Decisions form part of the negotiated balance and reflect the GPA Parties commitment to start implementing certain provisions of the revised GPA, as soon as the Protocol enters into force. It was agreed that the Committee at its first meeting after the entry into force of the Protocol would take a decision confirming the political commitment to adopt those Decisions, with an effect as of the date of the entry into force of the Protocol.

As both the Protocol and the Decisions are the object of the political agreement adopted in March 2012, they form part of the same package for the purpose of EU ratification of the GPA revision. However as the Committee Decisions are subject to a different internal decision making procedure than the Protocol, a separate Commission proposal is needed with regard to those Decisions.

See also:
- Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the position to be taken by the European Union within the Committee on Government Procurement with respect to decisions implementing certain provisions of the Protocol Amending the Agreement on Government Procurement

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)143: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:143:FIN

---