UK to Join Government Procurement Pact in its
Own Right in the New Year
At a meeting of the Committee on Government Procurement on 7
October, parties to the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) invited the United
Kingdom to complete the remaining steps to join the Agreement in its own right following
its departure from the European Union. They also applauded Brazil for submitting
the first documentation required to start negotiations to join the Agreement.
At the
meeting, GPA parties adopted a decision granting the UK the right to submit its
GPA instrument of accession to the Committee in 2021. This is the final step required
for the UK to join the GPA in its own right. As a former EU member, the UK still
remains covered by the GPA under the transition period agreed between the UK and
the EU. This transition period ends on 31 December 2020.
The decision
will allow the UK to accede to the GPA as soon as the UK's transition period with
the EU expires. The UK's Ambassador to the WTO, Julian Braithwaite, reiterated "the
UK's longstanding support for the deal [GPA] and constructive engagement in the
Committee". He stressed the UK's willingness to ensure continued access for
foreign suppliers to its government procurement markets, worth GBP 68 billion under
its market access offer, in exchange for continued access for UK businesses to "[market]
coverage under the GPA worth over GBP 1.3 trillion". The UK's full statement
can be found here.
GPA parties
said they look forward to receiving the UK's updated market access schedule reflecting
the latest changes in its government structure after the UK's accession becomes
effective in the new year. The Chair of the Committee,
Carlos Vanderloo from Canada, praised delegations for
having "come together in constructive and pragmatic ways to ensure continuity
in the United Kingdom's participation in the GPA".
Parties
applauded Brazil for having promptly circulated its replies to a checklist of issues
regarding its government procurement legislation, the first step to "jumpstart"
negotiations on joining the GPA. Brazil's Ambassador to the WTO, Alexandre Parola, said that the government is "working hard to present
an ambitious initial market access offer", which it hopes to submit by the
end of the year.
Brazil
submitted its application to join
the GPA on 18 May. It is the first Latin American country seeking to become a party
to the Agreement. The Committee praised Brazil for sending a powerful signal in
the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.
The president
of Côte d'Ivoire's Autorité Nationale
de Régulation des Marchés Publics,
Yacouba Coulibaly, conveyed
the government's ambition to bring its public procurement system in line with international
standards and promote transparent and equitable procedures in the country. He said
that Côte d'Ivoire's participation in the GPA Committee as an observer since July
coincides with recent improvements in the country's government procurement laws.
In addition to currently developing an e-platform to facilitate government procurement
procedures, Côte d'Ivoire has also increased the value of approved public procurement
contracts from USD 238 million in 2009 to USD 2.2 billion in 2019.
The Chair
underscored "the importance of Africa's increased representation in the Committee
and encouraged Côte d'Ivoire to participate actively”. Côte d'Ivoire is the third
African country to become an observer to the Committee, after Cameroon and the Seychelles.
Currently,
the Committee has 35 observers that are WTO members, one observer to the WTO (Belarus)
and four international organizations. Among these, 12 WTO members with GPA observer
status are also in the process of acceding to the Agreement. To become a party,
observers to the Committee are first required to submit a separate application to
start negotiations with other GPA parties.
The GPA
is a plurilateral agreement — open to all WTO members
but binding only the parties to the Agreement. Each applicant's terms of participation
are negotiated with GPA parties and set out in its respective market access schedule. These schedules contain
several annexes defining the party’s commitments with respect to:
·
the procuring entities whose procurement processes
will be open to foreign bidders
·
the goods, services and construction services
open to foreign competition
·
the threshold values above which procurement activities
will be open to foreign competition
·
exceptions to the
coverage.
Currently,
48 WTO members are
bound by the Agreement. Australia is the
latest member to have acceded to the Agreement in 2019. The GPA aims to open up,
in a reciprocal manner and to the extent agreed between WTO members, government
procurement markets to foreign competition, and make government procurement more
transparent. It provides legal guarantees of non-discrimination for the products,
services and suppliers of GPA parties in covered procurement activities. Government
procurement typically accounts for about 15% of developed and developing countries'
economies.