GPA Implementation in Bali

Parties to the WTO’s deal on government procurement could have the revised pact put into effect in time for the Bali ministerial conference, Government Procurement Committee chair Bruce Christie of Canada said following a meeting last Wednesday. In response, the majority of delegations present at the gathering - including the EU, US, and Canada - have said that they are willing to work toward such a goal.

The Government Procurement Agreement - a 42-country plurilateral pact under the aegis of the WTO - commits members to certain core disciplines regarding transparency, competition, and good governance, covering the procurement of goods, services, and capital infrastructure by public authorities.

Negotiations to revise the GPA - which took place over the span of a decade - finished within minutes of the kick-off of the December 2011 ministerial conference in Geneva. However, the new version of the deal has yet to be implemented, requiring two-thirds of those that are party to the pact to ratify it domestically.

Upon entry into force, the revised GPA is set to liberalise US$100 billion in public contracts, in addition to the US$500 billion already covered by the original pact. The market access gains are largely expected to come from adding new entities to the deal’s coverage, such as government ministries and agencies, as well as bringing more services and goods into the agreement. The revised deal also includes new and simpler rules on transparency and due process in helping fight hidden protectionism and corruption, as well as facilitating the accession of other parties.

Efforts for new parties to join onto the plurilateral deal also continue underway, the most high-profile of these being China, which had submitted a third revised offer to join the deal last year. China, with its large government procurement sector, agreed to join the GPA in its 2001 WTO accession protocol, but subject to special negotiations.

When China submitted its third revised offer last year, fellow GPA parties - while noting the improvements made over Beijing’s previous offers - ultimately asked for additional concessions, saying that the latest offer still included overly high thresholds and did not incorporate any new coverage of state-owned enterprises.

At Wednesday’s committee meeting, GPA parties reiterated their earlier request that China submit a fourth revised offer by July. However, China said that it could not commit to such a timeframe, given that the Asian country is in the midst of a leadership change and, therefore, a reorganisation of its government.

Other accessions raised during last week’s meeting also included Jordan, Moldova, New Zealand, and Ukraine. Sources say that “significant developments” are likely to be seen in GPA accessions from countries in Eastern Europe, with the initial offer that Ukraine tabled in mid-December having been received positively by members, and with Moldova’s accession process also being notably active.