WTO Government Procurement Agreement extended to the enlarged EU

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The Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has been extended to the enlarged European Union of twenty five Member States, following intense negotiations conducted by the European Commission. Suppliers in each GPA member (now including among others the enlarged EU, as well as the United States, Canada, Hong Kong China, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland) can bid for government contracts in other GPA member countries. The GPA is the first WTO Agreement that has successfully been adapted to the enlargement of the EU.

Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said: "This is good news for the new Member States, whose companies will now be able to bid for government contracts in important markets all over the world. It is also good news for EU taxpayers, as opening up procurement markets more widely leads to better value for money."

The WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) opens up most government contracts of its members to international competition. Suppliers of each GPA member have the right to participate in procedures for the award of government contracts of other GPA Members, under the conditions laid down in the GPA. The GPA rules aim inter alia at ensuring that GPA members do not discriminate against foreign suppliers covered by the Agreement.

In order to ensure that suppliers from the new EU Member States would enjoy access to the markets of the other GPA parties, the Commission has successfully negotiated the extension of the GPA to the enlarged EU. Therefore, suppliers from the "new" EU Member States now enjoy similar access to government procurement contracts in other GPA countries as suppliers from the "old" EU Member States. In return, suppliers from other GPA countries have been given the same access to the government procurement markets of the new EU Member States as they had to markets of the EU 15.

For the full text of the GPA Committee's decision, please see:

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/publicprocurement/international_de.htm

For more information on the GPA, please see:

http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/gproc_e/gp_gpa_e.htm

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• The New European Union of 25 (6/5/2003)