News Release
Frits Bolkestein
No. 99/04
June 15, 2004
PUBLIC
PROCUREMENT: WTO GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT AGREEMENT EXTENDED TO THE ENLARGED EU
The Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) of the World Trade Organization
(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 EU15.
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Press Contacts:
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Anthony Gooch
202-862-9523
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Maeve O'Beirne
202-862-9549
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