WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION  
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE  
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIORESTRICTED 
GPA/O/V/KOR/1 
1 February 2012 
 (12-0649) 
Committee on Government Procurement Original:   English/ 
 anglais/  inglés 
 
  
VERIFICATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS  
UNDER ARTICLE XXIV:7 OF THE AGREEMENT  
ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT 
 
Communication from the Republic of Korea
1 
 
 
 The following submission, dated 31 January 2012, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the Republic of Korea. 
 
 Comité des marchés publics  
 
 
VÉRIFICATION DES RÉSULTATS DES NÉGOCIATIONS 
AU TITRE DE L'ARTICLE XXIV:7 DE L'ACCORD  
SUR LES MARCHÉS PUBLICS 
 
Communication de la République de Corée
1 
 
 
 La communication ci-après, datée du 31 janvier  2012, est distribuée à la demande de la 
délégation de la République de Corée. 
 
 Comité de Contratación Pública 
 
 
VERIFICACIÓN DE LOS RESULTADOS DE LAS NEGOCIACIONES 
PREVISTAS EN EL PÁRRAFO 7 DEL ARTÍCULO XXIV 
DEL ACUERDO SOBRE CONTRATACIÓN PÚBLICA 
 
Comunicación de la República de Corea
1 
   La siguiente comunicación, de fecha 31 de enero de 2012, se distribuye a petición de la 
delegación de la República de Corea. 
                                                      
1 In English only./En anglais seulement./En inglés solamente. GPA/O/V/KOR/1 
Page 3 
 
 
  KOREA'S COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS ON PARTIES' ANNEXES TO APPENDIX I OF 
THE REVISED AGREEMENT ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT 
(31 January 2012) 
  1. European Union
 (GPA/W/315/Add.3) 
1. It is recommended that the following seemi ngly clerical errors in the EU's Annex 1 be 
corrected as suggested:  
EU member State Seemingly Clerical Error Suggested Correction 
Bulgaria 
 Ministry of Emergency situations Ministry of Emergency Situations 
Czech Republic 
 State labour Inspection Office State Labour Inspection Office 
Denmark Ministry –of Refugee, Immigration 
and Integration Affairs  Ministry of Refugee, Immigration 
and Integration Affairs 
Netherlands Rijksinstituut voor Kunst en Zee 
(RIKZ) 
 Rijksinstituut voor Kust en Zee 
(RIKZ) 
Netherlands MINISTRY OF HEALTH, 
WELFARE SPORTS 
 MINISTRY OF HEALTH, 
WELFARE AND SPORTS 
Poland (Ministry of Transport, Construction 
and Maritime Economy  (Ministry of Transport, Construction 
and Maritime Economy) 
Poland Ministry of Sport and Turism 
 Ministry of Sport and Tourism 
Poland Polish Acreditation Centre 
 Polish Accreditation Centre 
Romania Council Superior of Magistracy 
 Superior Council of Magistracy 
Romania Ministry of Development Public, 
Works and Housing  Ministry of Development, Public 
Works and Housing 
Slovenia Ministry of Higher Education, 
Science and Tecnology 
 Ministry of Higher Education, 
Science and Technology 
Slovenia (Higher Courts 
 (Higher Courts) 
Finland (MINISTRY OF EMPLOYMENT 
AND THE ECONOMY (MINISTRY OF EMPLOYMENT 
AND THE ECONOMY) 
 2. It is recommended that Slovenia's "District Courts" (entry number 26) in Annex 1 be printed 
on a separate line.  It is also recommended that  entry numbers 26 (County Courts) through 35 (Local 
Administrative Units) be renumbered 27 through 36, respectively.  3. Throughout its bilateral negotiations with Kor ea, the EU confirmed that the asterisks (*) to 
some of its entities in Annex 1, which are entiti es committed on a non-discriminatory basis in the 
GPA 1994, were printed because of clerical errors an d assured that these asterisks would be deleted in GPA/O/V/KOR/1 
Page 4  
 
  the final version of the EU's Annex 1.  The asteris ks, however, are not deleted in GPA/W/315/Add.3.  
It is requested that the asterisks to the following entities be deleted:  
EU member State Name of the Entity whose Asterisk is to be Deleted 
Germany 
 Federal Chancellery 
Luxembourg 
 Ministère de la Justice:  Etablissements Pénitentiaires 
Netherlands 
 Adviesdienst Geo-Informatie en ICT1 
Netherlands 
 Adviesdienst Verkeer en Vervoer (A VV) 
Netherlands 
 Bouwdienst 
Netherlands 
 Rijksinstituut voor Kunst en Zee (RIKZ) 
Netherlands 
 Rijksinstituut voor Integraal Zoetwa terbeheer en Afvalwaterbehandeling 
(RIZA)  
Poland  Supreme Administrative Court 
Poland National Remembrance Institute – Commission for Prosecution of Crimes 
Against the Polish Nation 
 
Slovakia National Security Authority2
 
 
4. It is requested that the following entities in the EU's Annex 1 be accompanied by one of the 
official WTO languages, preferably English:  
EU member State Name of the Entity without English Translation in Annex 1 
Italy 
 (All entities in Annex 1) 
Netherlands 
 Adviesdienst Geo-Informatie en ICT 
Netherlands 
 Adviesdienst Verkeer en Vervoer (A VV) 
Netherlands 
 Bouwdienst 
Netherlands 
 Corporate Dienst 
Netherlands 
 Data ICT Dienst 
  
                                                      
1 "Meetkundige dienst" (Geometric Service) in Annex 1 of the GPA 1994 appears to have changed its 
name to "Adviesdienst Geo-Informatie en ICT" on 1 De cember 2003.  If this is not the case, "Meetkundige 
dienst" or its succeeding entity must be iden tified in Annex 1 of  the Revised GPA. 
2 Although it is translated as the "National Security  Office" in the GPA 1994, the original Slovak name 
of the entity is the same as "Národný bezpe čnostný úrad".  GPA/O/V/KOR/1 
 Page 5 
 
 
  EU member State Name of the Entity without English Translation in Annex 1 
Netherlands 
 Dienst Verkeer en Scheepvaart 
Netherlands 
 Dienst Weg- en Waterbouwkunde (DWW) 
Netherlands 
 Rijksinstituut voor Kust en Zee (RIKZ) 
Netherlands 
 Rijksinstituut voor Integraal Zoetwa terbeheer en Afvalwaterbehandeling 
(RIZA) 
 
Netherlands Waterdienst 
 
Netherlands Inspectie Verkeer en Waterstaat, Hoofddirectie 
 
Netherlands Port state Control 
 
Netherlands Directie Toezichtontwikke ling Communicatie en Onderzoek (TCO) 
 
Netherlands Toezichthouder Beheer Eenheid Lucht 
 
Netherlands Toezichthouder Beheer Eenheid Water 
 
Netherlands Toezichthouder Beheer Eenheid Land 
 
Portugal Ministério para a Qualificação e o Emprego 
 
Portugal Presidença da Republica 
 
Portugal Tribunal Constitucional 
 
Portugal Tribunal de Contas 
 
Portugal Provedoria de Justiça 
 
Finland Työneuvosto – Arbetsrådet (Under the Ministry of Employment and the 
Economy)  
 5. Throughout its bilateral nego tiations with Korea, the EU confirmed that some of its 
committed entities in the GPA 1994 were omitted in its A nnex 1 due to clerical errors and assured that 
these entities would be re-included in the final vers ion of the EU's Annex 1.  The entities, however, 
are not included in GPA/W/315/Add.3.  It is requested that the following entities, which are 
committed entities in the GPA 1994, be included in the EU's Annex 1:  
EU member State Name of the Entity to be Included in Annex 1 
Malta 
 Office of the President 
Malta 
 Office of the Clerk to the House of Representatives 
Slovakia 
 Office of the President of the Slovak Republic GPA/O/V/KOR/1 
Page 6  
 
  EU member State Name of the Entity to be Included in Annex 1 
Slovakia 
 National Council of the Slovak Republic 
Slovakia 
 Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic 
Slovakia 
 Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic 
Slovakia 
 Public Prosecution of the Slovak Republic 
Slovakia 
 Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic 
Slovakia 
 Telecommunications Office of the Slovak Republic 
Slovakia 
 Office for Personal Data Protection 
Slovakia 
 Ombudsman’s Office 
Finland Reception Centres for Asylum Se ekers (Valtion turvapaikan hakijoiden 
vastaanotto-keskukset)3 
 
 6. The "Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Development (NUTEK)" bearing the 
asterisk (*) on page 52 of GPA/W/315/Add.3 is a redundancy of the "Swedish Agency for Economic 
and Regional Growth (NUTEK)" on page 51 of GPA/W/315/Add.3, and should be deleted, as 
NUTEK is a committed entity towards all GPA Parties in the GPA 1994 ( see page 74/102 of the EC's 
GPA 1994 Annex 1).  The EU in its bilateral negotia tions with Korea confirmed the double-entry was 
a clerical error and assured that it would be corrected.  7. Please verify the English translation of Swed en's "Statskontoret" in Annex 1, which appears 
as the "Agency for Administrative Development" .  The appropriate entry in English for 
"Statskontoret" may be the "Swedish Agency for Public Management". 
 8. On pages 2 and 3 of GPA/W/315/Add.3, the EU stated that all paragraphs but paragraph 1 of 
Notes to Annex 2 would be deleted and replaced by  "The provisions of Article XVIII shall not apply 
to Japan and Korea in contesting that award of cont racts by EU entities, whose value is less than the 
threshold applied for the same category of contract s awarded by these Parties."  Korea, however, has 
two categories of entities in its Annex 2:  Group  A whose threshold for supplies or services is 
200,000 SDRs and Group B whose threshold for supp lies or services is 400,000 SDRs.  How will the 
EU actually apply the said non-application of Article  XVIII to Korea?  To which category of entities 
in the EU's Annex 2 do Korea's Group A and B entities in Annex 2 respectively correspond? 
 
9. The EU's footnote 3 in Notes to Annex 1, f ootnote 3 in Notes to Annex 2 and footnote 7 in 
Notes to Annex 3 should be deleted because they are no longer relevant.  It should be reminded that 
Korea has not agreed to the retraction of the EU's commitment from that of GPA 1994.  
                                                      
3 The entity was included in GPA/O/EEC/2/Rev.2 as "Valtion turvapaikanhakijoiden 
vastaanottokeskukset", without any English translation.  GPA/O/V/KOR/1 
 Page 7 
 
 
  2. Iceland  (GPA/W/315/Add.4) 
1. Iceland's footnote 1 in Notes to Annex 1, f ootnote 2 in Notes to Annex 2 and footnote 6 in 
Notes to Annex 3 should be deleted because they are no longer relevant.  It should be reminded that 
Korea has not agreed to the retraction of Iceland's commitment from that of GPA 1994.  
2. Paragraph 5 of Iceland's Notes to Annex 2 r eads:  "The provisions of Article XVIII shall not 
apply to Japan and Korea in contesting that award of  contracts by EU entities, whose value is less than 
the threshold applied for the same category of cont racts awarded by these Parties."  Korea, however, 
has two categories of entities in its Annex 2:  Group A whose threshold for supplies or services is 200,000 SDRs and Group B whose threshold for supp lies or services is 400,000 SDRs.  How will 
Iceland actually apply the said non-application of Article XVIII to Korea?  To which category of 
entities in Iceland's Annex 2 do Korea's Group A a nd B entities in Annex 2 respectively correspond? 
 
3. Netherlands with respect to Aruba (GPA/W/315/Add.1) 
 The asterisk (*) on Aruba's Annex 3 seems to be a clerical error and is therefore 
recommended to be deleted. 
 
4. United States
 (GPA/W/315/Add.1) 
 Paragraph 5 of the United States' Annex 7 read s:  "For construction services of the Republic 
of Korea and suppliers of such services, this Agreement covers only procurement by the entities 
included in Annex 2 or 3 a thres hold of 15,000,000 SDRs".  As di scussed in Korea-US bilaterals, 
Korea recognizes that the United States inserted the said paragraph for the sake of the principle of 
reciprocity, in response to Korea's threshold of 15,000,000 SDRs for construction services 
procurement by Annex 2 and 3 entities.  Therefore,  no such restriction should be placed against 
Korean suppliers of construction services as to procurement by the Annex 1 entities of the United 
States, because the threshold for construction services  procurement by Annex 1 entities of Korea is the 
same as that of the Unites States:  5,000,000 SDRs .  Paragraph 5 may be misinterpreted to exclude 
coverage of procurement by the Annex 1 entiti es of the United States for construction services 
provided by Korean suppliers.  In this regard, Ko rea requests that paragraph 5 be rephrased so as to 
avoid such misinterpretation and suggests the followin g language as an alternative:  "For construction 
services of the Republic of Korea and suppliers of such services, the threshold for procurement by the 
entities included in Annex 2 or 3 is 15,000,000 SDRs. 
 
__________