AGREEMENT ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT

Notifications

Notification of relevant information by parties is an important means to ensure the transparency and predictability of their procurement regimes. The Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA 2012) and various decisions by the Committee on Government Procurement set out parties' notification obligations in detail.

The GPA parties are obliged to notify the Committee on Government Procurement of the following information:

For a comprehensive compilation of documents relating to notifications, please refer to the Note by the Secretariat entitled “Systemic Compilation of Notifications under the Agreement”, which is updated periodically to reflect the latest documents ( GPA/S/3 ).

Relevant information on notification obligations under the GPA 2012 can also be found in  the WTO Notifications Portal and the Technical Cooperation Handbook on Notification Requirements.

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Reporting of procurement statistics 

Each Party shall collect and report to the Committee statistics on its contracts covered by the GPA 2012. Each report shall cover one year and be submitted within two years of the end of the reporting period (Article XVI:4 of the GPA 2012).

Parties' notifications on procurement statistics received to date are available in the WTO Notifications Portal

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Thresholds in Appendix I of the GPA 2012 in national currencies

In accordance with the Decision on Modalities for Notifying Figures in National Currencies (see GPA/1, Annex 3), each party is required to notify the value of the thresholds contained in its coverage schedule and specified in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) into its own national currency.

The thresholds expressed in national currencies are fixed for a period two years.

Notifications received to date are available in the e-GPA Gateway and WTO Notifications Portal

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Domestic legislation relevant to the Agreement

Each party is under an ongoing non-periodic obligation to notify any changes to its laws and regulations relevant to the GPA and in the administration of such laws and regulations (see Article XXII:5 of the GPA 2012). Under certain conditions and in cases of non-substantive changes, the Committee Decision on “Notification Requirements under Articles XIX and XXII of the Agreement” provides flexibility to submit notifications on an annual basis (GPA/113, Annex A). 

In addition, a 1996 Committee Decision (GPA/1/Add.1) requires that each Party to the Agreement submit the complete texts of its basic legislation on government procurement in the original language and a summary of this legislation and other relevant legislation in one of the official WTO languages to the WTO Secretariat. Parties are required to provide responses to the checklist of issues regarding their national legislation and institutional arrangements.

Notifications received to date are available in the WTO Notifications Portal.

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Modifications and Rectifications to Coverage (Appendix I) under the GPA 2012 

Parties are under an ongoing non-periodic obligation to notify the Committee of any proposed rectification, transfer of an entity from one annex to another, withdrawal of an entity or other modifications of its coverage schedule (Article XIX of the GPA 2012). Under certain conditions, the Committee Decision on “Notification Requirements under Articles XIX and XXII of the Agreement” provides flexibility to submit notifications every two years (GPA/113 , Annex A).

Parties affected by a proposed modification may notify the Committee of any objection to the proposed modification. A modifying or any objecting party may institute arbitration procedures to facilitate resolution of objections by submitting a notification to that effect (Article XIX of the GPA 2012 and the Committee's Decision on Arbitration Procedures (GPA/139)). These and other notifications related to the modification of schedules are restricted documents and accessible to the governments of GPA parties and observers to the Committee only. They are automatically derestricted upon certification of the relevant modifications.

Relevant notifications are accessible from the e-GPA Gateway and WTO Notifications Portal.

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Modification of the Information on the Procurement System Listed in Appendix II, III or IV to the GPA 2012 

The GPA 2012 requires that parties provide information on the media they use for the publication of procurement-related information, such as government procurement legislation, procurement notices, etc. The information is contained in various Appendices of the Agreement.

  • Appendix II — Laws, Regulations, Judicial Decisions, Administrative Rulings, Contract Clauses, and procedures regarding covered government procurement.
  • Appendix III — Procurement notices, Multi-use lists of suppliers, Award information
  • Appendix IV — Government Procurement Statistics

Each party is under an ongoing non-periodic obligation to promptly notify the Committee of any modification to the party's information listed in Appendix II, III or IV to the GPA 2012 (Art. VI:3 of the GPA 2012).

The information provided by parties is available in the e-GPA Gateway.

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