RESTRICTED  
  
GPA/ACC/NZL/8  
 
29 October 2013  
(13-5980)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Government Procurement  Original: English  
 
ACCESSION OF NEW ZEALAND TO THE  
AGREEMENT ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM CANADA, ISRAEL, JA PAN, KOREA, NORWAY AND SWITZERLAND 
The following communication, dated 29 October 2013, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegations of Canada, Israel, Japan, Korea, Norway and Switzerland. 
 
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REQUEST FROM CANADA, ISRAEL, JAPAN, KOREA, NORWAY AND SWITZERLAND FOR 
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE REVISED A PPENDIX I OFFER OF NEW ZEALAND 
Canada, Israel, Japan, Korea, Norway and Switzerland would like to thank New Zealand (NZ) for 
its revised offer of 24 September 2013 for accession to the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA/ACC/NZL/7). We hereby su bmit our requests for improvements to 
New Zealand's revised Appendix I offer and look forward to New Zealand's second revised offer. 
 Annex 2 – Sub-central Government Entities 
 
1.  We request that New Zealand list regional, territorial or city councils that serve a population in excess of 250,000. This would include specifically the following: 
 Auckland Council (Population 1,507,700); 
 Canterbury Regional Council (Population 558, 800); 
 Greater Wellington Regional Council (Population 487,000); 
 Waikato Regional Council (Population 416,000); 
 Christchurch City Council (Population 363,200); 
 Bay of Plenty Regional Council (Population 277,000). 
Annex 3 – Other Entities 
 
2.  We request that the applicable thresholds for goods and services be lowered to 400,000 SDR. 
3.  We request that New Zealand include a more comprehensive list of Crown Agents identified in 
Part 1 of the Crown Entity Act, including: 
 Earthquake Commission; 
 Education New Zealand; 
 Environmental Protection Authority; GPA/ACC/NZL/8 
 
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   Health Promotion Agency; 
 Health Quality and Safety Commission; 
 Health Research Council of New Zealand; 
 New Zealand Blood Service; 
 New Zealand Walking Access Commission; 
 Pharmaceutical Management Agency; 
 Real Estate Agents Authority; 
 Social Workers Registration Board. 
4.  We understand from New Zealand's State Owned Enterprise Act of 1986 that the principal 
objective of every State enterprise is to operate as a successful business (Article 4 (1)). However, it appears that many of these SOEs are performing governmental functions and, as such, their 
procurement activities appear to be for governmental purposes. 
5.  As an alternative to broad coverage of such SOEs in the GPA, we request that New Zealand 
provide assurances that such SOEs will not discriminate against goods, services and suppliers from 
GPA Parties in relation to their procurement activities by adding the following note to Annex 3:  
"The State Enterprises listed in Schedule 1 of the State Owned Enterprise Act of 1986 or its 
successor shall comply with paragraphs 1, 2 and 6 of Article IV of the Agreement (non-
discrimination) in respect of the procurement of goods, services and construction services above 
the applicable thresholds."  Annex 7 - General Notes 
 
6.  Regarding General Note 8, we request th at New Zealand provide an explanation for the 
necessity of this note in light of  Article XIII:1(b) (ii) and (iii) (w hich permits a Party to use limited 
tendering where the goods or services can be su pplied only by a particular supplier and no 
reasonable alternative or substitute goods or services exist because of patents, copyrights, 
exclusive rights or due to an absence of competition for technical reasons). 
7.  Regarding General Note 9, we request that this note be deleted in light of Article XIII:1(b) (ii). 
8.  Regarding General Note 11, we request that New Zealand clarify the scope and policy rationale 
for this note and consider other options for narrowing its scope. 
9.  As an alternative to broad coverage of regional, territorial and city councils, we request that 
New Zealand consider adding the following obliga tion as a note to Annex 7 (General Notes): 
"Where an entity listed in Annex 1 or 3 provides funding to a regional, territorial or city council 
entity for a project involving construction servic es where the procurement value of that project 
exceeds a threshold of 5,000,000 SDR, the entity shall require the recipient of the funding to: 
 
a. accord national treatment to the goods and services of any other Party and to the 
suppliers of any other Party; and 
b. apply procurement procedures equivalent to the Government Procurement Principles 
(2012)  and the Mandatory Rules for Procurement by Departments (2006) , or their 
successors." 
 
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