RESTRICTED  
  
GPA/MOD/ CHE/2 
 
7 January 2021 
(21-0317) Page: 1/47 
Committee on Government Procurement  Original: English  
 
 NOTIFICATION OF PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS AND RECTIFICATIONS TO COVERAGE 
UNDER THE REVISED AGREEMENT ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT  
COMMUNICATION FROM SWITZERLAND  
The following communication, dated 7 January  2021, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Switzerland . 
 
_______________  
 
 
Notifying Party  SWITZERLAND  
Legal Basis   Article XIX:1(a) of the revised Agreement  
 Article XIX:1(b) of the revised Agreement  
Annex(es) of 
Appendix I affected  • Central Government Entities (Annex 1)  
• Sub-Central Government Entities (Annex 2)  
• Other Entities (Annex 3)  
• Goods (Annex 4)  
• Services (Annex 5)  
• Construction  Services (Annex 6) 
• General Notes  (Annex 7)  
Description of the proposed modification(s):  
 
Pursuant to paragraph  1(b) of Article  XIX of the revised Agreement on Government Procurement 
(hereinafter "the revised Agreement "), Switzerland  hereby notifies the Committee on Government 
Procurement of proposed  modifications to its Appendix I to the revised Agreement . There are five 
types of modifications being notified :  
a. General (presentational) modifications , in line with the formatting changes suggested 
by the Secretariat in GPA/W/326 to ensure consistency amo ng the Annexes of all Parties  
to the revised Agreement , upon the entry into force of that revised Agreement for them . 
These include modifications to the titles and the structure of Switzerland's  Annexes as 
well as to the presentation of thresholds, lists of entities and the lists of goods, servi ces, 
and construction services.  
b. Reflection of Switzerland's terms of accessions of Australia (Attachment C to GPA/CD/1) 
and the United Kingdom in its own right to the Agreement (Attachment C to GPA/CD/2).  
c. Corrections  and clarifications  in Annex 7 : 
• Corrections and clarifications of General Note 1.3 .b.: "Corée et Israël en ce qui 
concerne les marchés passés par les entités énumérées à l'Annexe 3, chiffre 2 
pour les produits relevant des n8504, 8535, 8537 et 8544 du SH 
(transformateurs électriques, prises de courant, interrupteurs et câbles isolés); 
Israël, en ce qui concerne  plus les marchés passés pour  les produits relevant 
des n85012099, 85015299, 85015199, 85015290, 85014099, 85015390  
8504, 8535, et 8536, 8537 et 8544  du SH.  GPA/MOD/ CHE/2 
 
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• Correction of General  Note 3.1.: "La Suisse comprend qu'en vertu de l'article 
II, lit a),  ch. 2 a) ii, le présent Accord ne couvre pas les placements des fonds 
des assurés effectués par des organisations de droit public telles que des 
assurances de droit public et des caisses de pension de droit public."  
d. Rectification in Annex 7 : 
• Add "… de la République de Moldavie, du Monténégro … et de l 'Ukraine " to the 
list of members to which the exception provided for under General Note 1.1 .a. 
applies.  
Upon the entry into force of the revised Agreement on Government Procurement 
(hereinafter "the rev ised Agreement ") for Switzerland on 1  January 2021, and 
considering that the Parties with regard to which the revised Agreement applies 
concerning procurement  by the entities listed in paragraph 2  of Annex 2 need to be 
explicitly mentioned in Annex 7,  Annex 7 of Appendix I of Switzerland will have to be 
rectified. The purpose of this rectification is to continue ensuring the same rights and 
obligations between Switzerland and the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine 
as under the Agreement on Governme nt Procurement done at Marrakesh on 
15 April 1994 (hereinafter the "1994 Agreement ") regarding the coverage of local 
districts and municipalities. Such rectification reflects the Committee 's Decisions 
regarding the accession s of the Republic of Moldova (GPA/131 of 16 September 2015), 
Montenegro (GPA/124 of 29 October 2014) and Ukraine (GPA/133 of 
11 November  2015) to the revised Agreement in Switzerland 's Annex 7 of Appendix I 
of the revised Agreement . 
e. Modification in Annex 1 : 
• Add a footnote "À l'exception de Caisse fédérale de pensions PUBLICA  sous 
Département fédéral des finances ( DFF)" to paragraph 1 . 
PUBLICA is the pension fund of the Swiss Confederation. It is an independent collective 
pension institution established under public  law. In the course of the deliberations 
regarding the revision of the federal law on government procurement, the Federal 
Assembly adopted an amendment to the draft legislation providing for the exclusion 
of public pension funds of the Confederation from t he coverage of the revised law on 
government procurement (see art 10.1 (i) of the revised federal law on government 
procurement of 21 June 2019: https://www.admin.ch/opc/fr/offic ial-
compilation/2020/641.pdf ). 
Since PUBLICA will no longer be covered by the federal law on government 
procurement that entered  into force on 1 January 2021 , Switzerland has to modify its 
Annex 1 to Appendix I of the revised Agreement and exclude such entity from the 
Central Government Entities covered.  
Information of the likely consequences of the change for the mutually agreed 
coverage provided for by the Agreement:  
 
The proposed modifications a. to d. are of a purely formal nature  and do not alter the level of 
mutually agreed coverage provided  for by  the revised  Agreement . 
 
Regarding the proposed modification e ., it is to note that according to footnote 1 of Switzerland 's 
Annex 5 to Appendix I of the revised Agreement, the revised Agreement does not apply to 
contracts for financial services in connection with  the issue, purchase, sale, transfer of securities 
or other financial instruments and central bank serv ices. Moreover, General note 3.1 of 
Switzerland 's Annex 7 to Appendix I clarifies Switzerland 's understanding that the revised 
Agreement does not cover the placement of insured persons' assets by public -law institutions 
such as public -law insurances and pe nsion funds under its Article II, paragraph 2(a)(ii). The main 
activity of PUBLICA, which is to allocate assets in the form of pensions funds, is therefore not a GPA/MOD/ CHE/2 
 
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covered procurement under the revised Agreement. As far as procurement related to its own 
operation and infrastructure is concerned, a  detailed analysis of the public tenders carried out by 
PUBLICA between the adoption of the revised Agreement on 30 March 2012 and 2019 [ published 
on simap.ch ] revealed  that PUBLICA had not conducted  any procurement subject to the provisions 
of the Agreement on Government Procurement done at Marrakech on 15 Apr il 1994 (hereinafter 
the "1994 Agreement "), which was applicable to Switzerland until 31 December 2020. For these 
reasons, it can be concluded that the proposed modification e. does not alter the level of mutually 
agreed coverage  nor the balance of rights and obligations  provided for by the revised Agreement.   
Attachments1: 
• Attachment A  to this document shows (in red, bold, strikeout or underlining) the 
proposed modifications to the corresponding pages of Annexes 1 to 7 to Appendix I of 
Switzerland  under the revised Agreement .  
• Attachment B  indicates how the relevant pages would appear after the proposed 
modifications h ave become effective.  
 
 
1 Attachments A and B are in French  only. GPA/MOD/ CHE/2 
 
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