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Industry Trade Policy |
WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)
The WTO GPA is a plurilateral agreement with 39 member countries that commit to conduct their covered procurements in a way that is transparent and predictable and not biased to favor domestic suppliers or discriminate against foreign suppliers or products from other member countries.
In most countries the government, and the agencies it controls, are together the biggest purchasers of goods and services of all kinds. Globally this market is estimated to be worth over $2.4 trillion. In reality much of this market would typically be closed to U.S. suppliers since countries that are not party to a government procurement agreement with the United States can apply non-transparent procurement policies that effectively close off the market to foreign suppliers. Procurement agreements such as the GPA open up these markets and create a level playing field where U.S. suppliers can effectively compete against foreign suppliers.
WTO Member countries: Canada, European Communities (including its 27 member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom), Hong Kong China, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Netherlands with respect to Aruba, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States.
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