To date, government procurement has been effectively carved out of the main multilateral rules of the WTO system. This paper examines the systemic and other ramifications of this exclusion, from both an economic and a legal point of view. In addition to relevant elements of the WTO Agreements,...

Originally an important but relatively obscure plurilateral instrument, the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) is now becoming a pillar of the WTO system as a result of important developments since the Uruguay Round. This collection examines the issues and challenges that this raises...

Government procurement accounts for an average of 15 per cent or more of a country’s GDP. The WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement covers government purchasing of goods, services and construction work valued at US$ 1.7 trillion annually. This brochure, produced to mark the WTO’s 20th...

With the globalization of the supply chain around different countries, the effective implementation of social and environmental objectives in procurement practices becomes a crucial priority. For this reason, the inclusion in procurement practices of transnational private regulations (TPRs) such...

Results suggest that GPA membership has a positive impact on trade in both goods and services between parties as well as on outward foreign affiliate service sales. The number of GPA parties has a small marginal negative effect on trade in goods. Service exports also increase slightly with more...

This paper studies the government procurement of services from foreign suppliers by conducting a statistical analysis of data submitted by Japan and Switzerland to the WTO's Committee on Government Procurement. Using several metrics, the paper examines if the WTO’s Agreement on Government...

Discusses Canada's failure to include its provincial governments in its commitments to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. Canada is one of the only developed states that has not opened government contracts to international competition. This may be linked to a strong sense of...

Governments are significant buyers of goods and services, and these markets represent immense opportunities for international trade. Government procurement accounts for a substantial proportion of Gross Domestic Product (15-20% or more in most countries). According to OECD data, the world total...

While there has been an extensive literature on the challenge procedure of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) in general, as well as excellent country studies on the operation of the national challenge procedures of several key GPA Members, no such study has been conducted for Hong...

The Government Procurement Agreement ("GPA"), the successor of the Tokyo Round Government Procurement Code, is one of the Plurilateral Agreements (Annex 4) in the WTO. The contents of the GPA have been incorporated into domestic procurement legislation in the participating Members including the...