WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  GPA/W/310 
22 December 2009 
 
 (09-6681) 
Committee on Government Procurement 
Negotiations under Article XXIV:7 of the Agreement on Government Procurement  
 
  
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR MID-TERM REVIEW OF 
COVERAGE OFFERS ON THE TABLE 
 
Note by the Secretariat
 
  
This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own responsibility 
and is without prejudice to the positions  of participants and to their rights 
and obligations under the Agreemen t on Government Procurement.  
 
  In the course of the informal discussions that were held on coverage issues in July, October 
and December 2009, consideration was given to draft terms of reference
1 for a mid-term review of the 
coverage negotiations.  In the discussions that took place, it was made clear that the purpose of the 
review would be to facilitate renewed progress in the coverage negotiations, by clarifying the 
scope of the offers that are currently on the table and, where possible, eliminating misunderstandings as to what is and what is not covered .  The review would focus, at least 
initially, on five specific dimensions of covera ge, namely:  (i) entity coverage and thresholds
2;  
(ii) services and construction services coverage;  (iii)  goods coverage;  (iv) ge neral exclusions;  and 
(v) country-specific exclusions.  As far as possible,  the relevant information would be summarized in 
tabular form.  The methodology to be used woul d build on the two previous analyses by the 
Secretariat, namely the analysis of Discriminatory Provisions in Participants' Offers (Job No. 8747 of 
4 December 2007) and the analysis of Services and Construction Services Coverage in Participants' 
Current Offers (Job No. 8935 of 10 December 2007).  
In the course of the discussion that took  place on 9 December 2009, it was agreed
 that the 
Secretariat be asked to undertake the proposed review.  The following additional points were made3: 
• First, the review should cover both the initia l and (where applicable) the revised 
offers in addition to the exis ting commitments of Parties .  Where Parties have clarified 
particular points in their revised offe rs, these should be taken into account. 
                                                      
1 See Job No. 5616 of 7 July 2009, Job No. 5616/Rev.1(7584) of 22 September 2009 and 
Job No. 5616/Rev.2(10359)  of 4 December 2009. 
2 As suggested in the course of the informal plurilateral discussion on 14 July 2009, rather than 
attempting to replicate detailed entity lists, the Secretariat would simply indicate whether a Party had proposed 
an indicative list or an exhaustive list and how the coverage was defined – e.g. by a generic clause together with 
an indicative list, by reference to domestic legislation, or otherwise. 
3 See also the draft summary of the informal disc ussion on coverage issues (Job No. 10925 of 
22 December 2009). GPA/W/310 
Page 2  
 
  • Second, the Secretariat will not attempt to assess, in the review, how far the horizontal 
coverage issues have been addressed in Parties'  offers.  Rather, the current list of these 
issues will simply be attached to the re view for the information of Parties. 
• Third, the review will be circulated to dele gations in draft for any factual corrections, 
before it is finalized. 
• Fourth, as much of the review as is possibl e, and particularly the draft sections on 
services and construction services coverage, will be circulated to de legations in advance 
of the informal sessions to be held in the week of 8-12 February 2010. 
• Fifth, before the review is undertaken, dele gations should have an opportunity to provide 
any corrections or comments on the previous an alyses by the Secretariat of:  (i) Services 
and Construction Services Covera ge in Participants' Current Offers (Job No. 8935 of 10 
December 2007);  and (ii) Discriminatory Prov isions in Participan ts' Offers (Job No. 8747 
of 4 December 2007), updated versions of which will be important elements of the 
review. 
 In the course of the discussions that have ta ken place, the following additional points have 
also been made:  (i) regarding entity coverage, a short statement indicating, for each delegation, 
whether indicative lists or exhaustive lists were used  would be worthwhile to include (in any case, no 
attempt should be made to replicate proposed entity lists );  and (ii) the document should be precise 
and effective, and duplication should be avoided as far as possible. 
 
 The attached terms of reference reflect the above -noted points.  With regard to the requested 
opportunity to provide corrections or comments to the two papers noted above (i.e. the previous 
Secretariat analyses of Services and Construction Services Coverage in Participants' Current Offers and Discriminatory Provisions in Pa rticipants' Offers, it is requested  that such inputs be limited to 
factual corrections.  Any such corrections to these documents should be provided to the 
Secretariat (robert.anderson@wto.org and ca thy.boyle@wto.org) by c.o.b. Friday, 
8 January 2010.  
 
 For completeness, and as made clear in the discussions that took place in October and 
December 2009, the undertaking of the  mid-term review of the coverage negotiations in no way 
diminishes the importance of non-coverage-related aspects of the negotiations  (e.g. the 
provisionally agreed revised GPA text and the rela ted draft decisions on arbitration procedures and 
indicative criteria).  The exercise  is undertaken on this basis.  
_______________  GPA/W/310 
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  MID-TERM REVIEW OF COVERAGE OFFERS ON THE TABLE 
 
Terms of Reference  
 
Final  
 
 A. 
SOURCE MATERIAL  
 As called for by delegations in the course of the discussions that took place on 7 October and 
9 December 2009, the review will cover both the initia l and (where applicable) the revised offers of 
Parties in the coverage negotiations, in  addition to their existing commitments. 
  The full list of offers that have been circulated is as follows:  GPA/O/ABW/1 of 
9 December 2008 (Netherlands with respect to Aruba );  GPA/O/CAN/2 of 24 January 2006 (Canada);  
GPA/O/CHE/2 of 15 March 2006, GPA/O/CHE/2/Ad d.1 of 19 July 2006 and GPA/O/CHE/2/Rev.1 of 
7 November 2008 (Switzerland);  GPA/O/EEC/2 of  14 November 2005 and GPA/O/EEC/2/Rev.1 of 
26 February 2008 (European Union);  GPA/O/ISL/1 of 1 October 2007 (Iceland);  GPA/O/ISR/1 of 23 March 2006 (Israel);  GPA/O/JPN/2 of 4 January 2006 and GPA/O/JPN/2/Rev.1 of 
16 November 2006 (Japan);  GPA/O/JOR/2 of  31 October 2006 and revised entity offer in 
Job No. 5761 of 10 July 2009 (Jordan);  GPA/O/KOR/2 of 31 January 2006 and GPA/O/KOR/2/Rev.1 of 13 April 2007 (Korea);  GPA/O/NOR/2 of 30 March 2006 and 
GPA/O/NOR/2/Rev.1 of 19 September 2008 (Nor way);  GPA/O/SGP/2 of 23 March 2006 and 
GPA/O/SGP/2/Rev.1 of 14 May 2009 (Singapore);  and GPA/O/USA/2 of 22 December 2005 and GPA/O/USA/2/Rev.1 of 3 October 2006 (the United States).  In the case of Chinese Taipei, the offer to be considered would be the coverage commitmen ts set out in WT/Let/647/Add.1, as modified by 
WT/Let/657.
4 
 
B. SCOPE AND METHOD OF THE REVIEW  
 The following five specific dimensions of coverage will be the focus of the review: 
  (i) approaches to the listing of entities and thresholds;  (ii) services and construction services coverage; 
 (iii) goods coverage; 
 (iv) general exclusions;  and  (v) country-specific exclusions.  For each of the above dimensions, reference will be made to the existing commitments of Parties in 
addition to the ways in which the offers currently on  the table would vary those commitments.  To the 
extent possible, the relevant information will be set  out in tabular form.  Th e review will build on two 
previous analyses by the Secretariat, namely the anal ysis of Discriminatory Provisions in Participants' 
Offers (Job No. 8747 of 4 December 2007) and the an alysis of Services and Construction Services 
Coverage in Participants' Current Offers (J ob No. 8935 of 10 December 2007).  However, the 
information in those documents will be updated as a ppropriate and corrections offered by delegations 
can also be incorporated. 
  With regard to item (i), rather than attempting to replicate detailed entity lists, the Secretariat 
will simply indicate whether a Party has proposed an  indicative list or an exhaustive list and how the 
coverage was defined – e.g. by a generic clause t ogether with an indicative list, by reference to 
domestic legislation, or otherwise. 
                                                     
 
4 See GPA/O/TPKM/2 of 6 November 2009. GPA/W/310 
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 At the outset of the review, reference will be made to the original mandate for the 
negotiations, namely to expand the existing coverage and to seek the elimination of discriminatory 
measures.  
 As decided in the discussion that took place on 9 December, the Secretariat will not attempt to 
assess, in the review, how far the horizontal coverage issues have been addressed in Parties' offers.  
Rather, the current list of these issues will simply be  attached to the review for the information of 
Parties.  
 Before finalization, the review will be circul ated to delegations in draft for any factual 
corrections.  C. 
TIMING  
 As much of the review as is possible, and particularly the draft sections on services and 
construction services coverage, will be circulated in a dvance of the informal sessions to be held in the 
week of 8-12 February 2010.  GPA/W/310 
 Page 5 
 
 
  ATTACHMENT 
 
HORIZONTAL MARKET ACCESS-RELATED MATTERS TO BE  
NEGOTIATED IN THE COMMITTEE AS A WHOLE UNDER 
THE DECISIONS ON MODALITIES1 
 
  (1) Level of thresholds and their possible harmonization;   (2) coverage of software; 
 
 (3) the proposed goods Annex;   (4) whether there should be a uniform level of coverage of the entities covered by the 
Agreement; 
 
 (5) whether Annex 1 should follow a positive or  negative list approach, or be based on a 
generic description; 
  (6) whether there should be greater harmoni zation of the way entities are described, in 
particular whether Annexes 2 and 3 should be  structured on the basis of categories of 
entities, for example as defined in the legislation of individual Parties, or in terms of 
lists of individual entities; 
  (7) whether, in regard to services coverage  in Annexes 4 and 5, further commonality of 
presentation is desirable and feasible, taking into account coverage and commitments 
under the GATS; 
  (8) whether the General Note s in the Annexes can be simplified and made more easily 
understandable; 
  (9) modifications to the structure and content of Annexes in Appendix I; 
 
 (10) uniform description of entities in Annexes 1-3;  and   (11) the treatment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  
__________ 
 
                                                     
 
1 This is a modified version of the list of horizontal coverage matters included in the Decision on 
negotiating modalities (GPA/79, dated 19 July 2004).  It  takes account of suggestions made in subsequent 
informal plurilateral discussions.