WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION  
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE  
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIORESTRICTED 
GPA/O/V/ABW/1 
9 March 2012 
 (12-1327) 
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 Kingdom of the Netherlands with respect to Aruba
1 
  
 The following submission, dated 7 March 2012, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands with respect to Aruba. 
 
 Comité des marchés publics  
 
 
 
VÉRIFICATION DES RÉSULTATS DES NÉGOCIATIONS 
AU TITRE DE L'ARTICLE XXIV:7 DE L'ACCORD 
SUR LES MARCHÉS PUBLICS 
 
Communication du Royaume des Pays-Bas pour le compte d'Aruba
1 
 
  La communication ci-après, datée du 7 mars 2012, est distribuée à la demande de la délégation du Royaume des Pays-Bas pour le compte d'Aruba. 
 
 
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 del Reino de los Países Bajos con respecto a Aruba
1 
 
 
 La siguiente comunicación, de fecha 7 de ma rzo de 2012, se distribuye a petición de la 
delegación del Reino de los Países Bajos con respecto a Aruba.  
                                                      
1 In English only./En anglais seulement./En inglés solamente.   
   GPA/O/V/ABW/1 
 Page 3 
 
 
  KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS WITH RESPECT TO ARUBA'S RESPONSES TO 
THE COMMENTS MADE BY PARTIES 
 
 1. The Kingdom of the Netherlands with respect to Aruba appreciates the efforts made by every 
Party to conclude the Agreement on Government  Procurement negotiations before the Eighth 
Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization.  2. In this respect, the Kingdom of the Netherlands  with respect to Aruba recalls that a political 
Agreement was reached during the GPA Minist erial level meeting held in Geneva on 
15 December 2011 between the Parties.  This Agr eement includes the text of the future GPA, the 
work programmes and each GPA Party's future Appendi x I.  This is reflected in the terms of the 
Decision on the outcomes of the negotiations under Article XXIV:7 of the Agreement on Government Procurement taken by the Ministers of the GPA Parties.  
3. According to paragraph 7 of the Decision, this political agreement is subject to final 
verification and legal review.  The necessary steps be fore the signature of the future GPA are taken on 
the understanding that they cannot affect the s ubstance of the political Agreement reached in 
December 2011.  Rather, these steps consist in im proving where necessary the uniformity, clarity and 
readability of the future Agreement and corrections of  clerical errors in the offers with a view to 
ensuring consistency and legal certainty. 
 
4. Against this background, the Kingdom of the Netherlands with respect to Aruba welcomes 
the useful suggestions about its final offer (doc ument GPA/O/ABW/2) which clearly aim at fulfilling 
the above mentioned goals.  Parties will find belo w the Kingdom of the Netherlands with respect to 
Aruba's answers to these suggestions. 
 
5. As the Netherlands accepts all comments made  by Parties and has no comments on the offers 
of other Parties, it considers the process of final verification and legal revi ew of its own offer as 
closed.  
I. UNITED STATES' COMMENTS (GPA/O/V/USA/1) 
 
1. General comments 
 
 The Kingdom of the Netherlands with respect to  Aruba agrees with the suggestions made by 
the United States and has adapted its Annexes accordingly. 
 
2. Specific comments on the Kingdom of the Netherlands with respect to Aruba 
 
Comments: 
 
In Annex 1 
 
(a) Where acronyms are used in the listing of entities, it is recommended that the full 
name of the entity is provided. 
 
(b) For the two ministries for which a subordinate unit is excluded, it is recommended 
that the exclusion be moved to Notes to Annex 1 and revised, as follows: 
 GPA/O/V/ABW/1 
Page 4  
 
  (i) For the Ministry of General Affairs,  add "Note 1" after the listing of the 
Ministry, and add the following Note 1:  "This agreement does not cover procurement by Veiligheidsdienst Aruba". 
 
(ii) For the Ministry of Finance, Communications, Utilities and Energy, add 
"Note 2" after the listing of the Ministry, and add the following Note 2:  
"This Agreement does not cover proc urement by Meldpunt Ongebruikelijke 
Transacties". 
 
Answers:  
 
(a) An explanation of all entities is provided in the Annex 1 of the Rectified Final Offer. 
 
(b) The Kingdom of the Netherlands with r espect to Aruba agrees with the suggestions 
(i) and (ii) made in comment (b) by th e United States and has adapted its Annex 1 
accordingly. 
 
II. CANADA'S COMMENTS (GPA/O/V/CAN/1) 
 
Comments: 
 
(a) In Annex 4, Canada suggests the use of the sentence "This agreement covers 
procurement" instead of "This agreem ent will apply to the procurement". 
 
(b) In Annex 5, Canada suggests the use of the word "covered" instead of "included". 
 
(c) Canada would like to know the meaning of the use of the single asterisk on Annex 3 
and Annex 5 as well as the meaning of th e use of a triple asterisk on Annex 5. 
 
Answer: 
 
(a) The Kingdom of the Netherlands with r espect to Aruba agrees with the suggestions 
made by Canada in comments (a) and (b ) and has adapted its Annexes 4 and 5 
accordingly. 
 
(b) In answer to the question in comment (c) it can be stated these are unfortunate clerical 
errors and do not have a specific meaning.  Therefore these asterisks are eliminated in 
the Rectified Final Offer. 
 
III. KOREA'S COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS (GPA/O/V/KOR/1) 
 
Comment: 
 
The asterisk (*) on Aruba's Annex 3 seems to be a clerical error and is therefore 
recommended to be deleted.  
Answer : 
 
The Kingdom of the Netherlands with respect to  Aruba agrees with the suggestion made by 
Korea and has adapted its Annex 3 accordingly.  
__________