RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  GPA/M/31 
29 January 2007 
 (07-0403) 
Committee on Government Procurement  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 8 DECEMBER 2006 
 
Chairman:  Ambassador Tae-yul Cho (Korea)
 
  
1. The Chairman
 said that, in preparation for the meeti ng, delegations had received an Airgram 
(WTO/AIR/2939 of 27 November 2006) and an annotated agenda (Job No. 8987 of 
28 November 2006).  The agenda, as outlined in the Airgram, was as follows: 
A. Negotiations under Article XXIV:7 
 
B. Modifications to the Appendices to the Agreement 
 
  (i) Notification from the European Communities 
 
  (ii) Other modifications 
 
C. Accessions 
 
D. Review of national implementing legislation 
 
E. Adoption of the Committee's annu al report to the General Council 
 
F. Other business 
 2. With respect to item B(i), a revised Draft Deci sion was being circulated for the consideration 
of delegations.
1  The Chairman also drew attention to a revised draft of the Committee's Annual 
Report to the General Council which had been prepar ed and circulated by the Secretariat to take 
account of developments during the week's nego tiations and other misce llaneous developments.2  
Under the last item of the proposed agenda, "Other  business", he suggested that the Committee take 
up the dates for its meetings in the first half of 2007. 
3. The Committee adopted  the above agenda, taking into c onsideration the additional points 
noted by the Chairman. 
A. NEGOTIATIONS UNDER ARTICLE  XXIV :7 
4. The Chairman  noted that the meeting had been preceded  by several days of informal drafting 
sessions focusing on the revision of the outstanding non-market-access-related provisions in the draft revised text of the Agreement.  In addition, a shor t but useful plurilateral di scussion had been held on 
the market access aspect of the negotiations, mainly  for the purpose of finalizing arrangements for 
completion of this aspect of the negotiations. 
                                                     
 
1 Job No. 9099/Rev.1(9264),  dated 8 December 2006. 
2 Job No. 8980/Rev.1, dated 8 December 2006. GPA/M/31 
Page 2  
 
  5. He recalled that the negotiations under Article XXIV:7 were being conducted on the basis of 
the well-known WTO principle that "nothing is agr eed until everything is agreed".  He understood, 
however, that the negotiators had reached an understanding on the revision of the text of the 
1994 Agreement on Government Procur ement which had been circulated to delegations earlier in the 
day
3;  as had been agreed earlier by delegations, this  document would also be circulated to all WTO 
Members as an unrestricted GPA/W document.4 
6. He noted that the agreement of the negotia tors was provisional based on the following: 
 - Firstly, the provisions of the text remained subject to a final legal check.  In other 
words, rectifications of a purely formal character that did not affect the substance or meaning of the text might be needed.  It  would also be necessary to draw up and 
ensure the linguistic consistency of th e texts in the other two WTO languages. 
  - Secondly, the agreement was subject to  a mutually satisfactory outcome to the 
coverage negotiations.  In other words, so me negotiators might continue discussions 
on the relationship between certain aspects of the aforementioned text, in particular in 
relation to Annexes 2 and 3 of Appendi x I, and the coverage negotiations. 
 7. The Chairman said, further, that it was his understanding that the negotiators intended to 
conduct the coverage negotiations on th e basis of the aforesaid text.  Further, they intended that this 
text be used as the basis for consultations a nd other ongoing work relating to the accession of new 
parties. 
8. He also recalled that, earlier in the day, de legations had reached agreement on arrangements 
for conclusion of the market access aspect of the negotiations mandated under Ar ticle XXIV:7.  It had 
been decided that three meetings would be held in the first half of 2007, starting in February.  In the 
course of each meeting week, substantial emphasi s would be placed on opportunities for bilateral 
discussions between Parties.  In addition, in the c ourse of each week attention would be given to the 
development of the planned arbitration procedures a nd indicative criteria.  The process of the bilateral 
negotiations would be kept  under review in regular plurilateral m eetings in an informal mode.  The 
overall goal was to complete the market access nego tiations and all aspects of the negotiations in 
spring 2007. 
9. The Chairman congratulated delegations fo r these achievements.  The new Agreement 
represented a substantial improvement over the existi ng 1994 Agreement.  The revised text entailed a 
complete revision of the provisions of the Agreement with a view to making them more user friendly.  
The provisions had also been updated to take in to account developments in current government 
procurement practice, including the role of electr onic tools in the procurement process.  Additional 
flexibility had been built in on various points, for example, shorter time-peri ods for procuring goods 
and services of a type available in the commercial ma rket place.  Special and differential treatment for 
developing countries had been more clearly spelle d out, in a manner that it was hoped would facilitate 
future accessions by such countries.  A good deal of attention had been given to such questions as 
domestic review procedures for supp lier challenges and the rules for modification of the coverage lists 
of Parties.  On this latter matter, it had been ag reed to develop arbitration procedures for resolving 
differences.  He thanked delegations for the hard work, creativity and flexibility on the part of all 
participants that had made these achievements possible. 
10. The Committee took note
 of the Chairman's statement a nd agreed to proceed as he had 
suggested. 
                                                      
3 Job No. 9256, dated 8 December 2006. 
4 Subsequently circulated as GP A/W/297, dated 11 December 2006.  GPA/M/31 
 Page 3 
 
 
  11. Commenting on the week's work, the representative of Korea  said that the text of the 
provisional agreement represented a significant impr ovement over the 1994 Agre ement.  He thanked 
the Chairman for his leadership; participants for undertaking the negotiations in a spirit of cooperation 
and compromise; and the Secretariat for its support. 
12. The representative of the European Communities  said that his delegation was very pleased 
with the outcome of the negotiations.  He thanked the Chairman and his predecessors for their work, 
noting that the provisional agreement that had be en reached was the result of a long negotiating 
undertaking.  He noted that in the current situ ation in the WTO, this represented a significant 
achievement.  He thanked all the Parties for their respective contributions and the Secretariat for its 
support. 
13. The representative of the United States  said that her delegation was also very pleased with the 
results that had been achieved.  The new Agreement was the outcome of six hard years of work.  She 
expressed appreciation for the Chairman's leadersh ip; for the hard work by delegations and the 
flexibility that they had shown;  and for the Secretariat's support. 
14. The Chairman  expressed his own appreciation for the sp irit of flexibility and compromise that 
had been shown by the delegations during the ne gotiations, and for the Secretariat's support. 
B. MODIFICATIONS TO THE AP PENDICES TO THE AGREEMENT  
1. Notification from the European Communities 
15. The Chairman  said that in advance of the meeting, the European Communities had submitted 
a communication setting out proposed modifications to  its schedules pursuant to Article XXIV:6(a) of 
the Agreement.5  These modifications were aimed at incorpor ating changes to be made as a result of 
Bulgaria and Romania joining the European Communiti es as of 1 January 2007.  In addition, a draft 
decision pursuant to Article XXIV:6(a) had been ci rculated on 1 December 2006 at the request of the 
European Communities6.  A revision of this Draft Decision had just been placed before delegations.7 
16. He recalled that in connection with the previ ous enlargement of the European Communities in 
2004, the Committee on Government Procurem ent had adopted a Decision pursuant to 
Article XXIV:6(a) approving consequential modi fications to the Appendices of the European 
Communities.8  The record of the discussion in, and the action taken by, the Committee on this matter 
could be found in GPA/M/22, paragraphs 14-28. 
17. The representative of the European Communities  reiterated that his delegation was following 
the same procedure as that which had been followed during the previous enlargement of the European 
Communities, in 2004.  The proposed modification provided new market access opportunities for 
Parties arising from the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Communities and 
therefore to the Agreement.  Since circulating its proposed modification, the European Communities 
had received questions and requests for clarificati on from some Parties.  The revised Draft Decision 
which had been placed before Parties had been modifi ed to respond to the questions and concerns that 
had been raised. 
                                                      
5 GPA/MOD/EEC/2, dated 17 November 2006 and GPA/MOD/EEC/2/Add.1, dated 
21 November 2006. 
6 Job No. 9099, dated 1 December 2006. 
7 Job No. 9099/Rev.1, dated 8 December 2006. 
8 GPA/78, dated 4 May 2004. GPA/M/31 
Page 4  
 
  18. The Committee adopted
 the revised draft Decision as proposed by the European 
Communities.9 
19. Following the adoption of the Decision, the representative of the European Communities  
made the following statement: 
"The European Communities clarifies that the coverage of its two new member States 
has been organized in the same manner as the coverage of its existing member States.  
The European Communities c onsiders that no central government entities of its new 
member States have been omitted; it stands ready to correct any omissions.  All entities of the new member States that meet th e criteria of the EC's offer in Annexes 2 
and 3 are covered. 
The European Communities clarifies that subor dinate entities of the ministries of the 
new member States are generally covered in two ways. Subordinate entities that can be considered as part of a ministry are covered under the relevant ministry in Annex 1.  Subordinate entities that may not be  considered as part of a ministry, in 
particular because they have a separate le gal personality are generally covered as a 
body governed by public law in Annex 2. 
The European Communities stands ready to provide any further necessary 
clarification. 
Finally, the European Communities would like to thank the other Parties for the 
constructive spirit in which they have worked with the European Communities in order to achieve the full integration of the two new member States into the GPA." 
20. The representative of Korea
 welcomed Bulgaria and Romania to the GPA. 
21. The representative of the United States  thanked the delegation of the European Communities 
for its statement, for its flexibility in addressing ques tions that had been raised by the United States, 
and for the additional assurances that it had given. 
22. The representative of Japan  welcomed the Decision that had been adopted and the subsequent 
statement read by the European Communities.  He  welcomed the new members of the GPA.  He 
thanked the European Communities for its prompt a nd satisfactory response to questions and concerns 
that had been raised by Japan regarding the Annexes and certain procedural aspects of the notification 
of the European Communities. 
23. The representative of Canada  joined the other delegations in welcoming Bulgaria and 
Romania to the GPA.  She thanked the European  Communities for their positive and timely response 
to Canada's questions in conn ection with their notification. 
2. Other Modifications 
24. The Chairman  drew attention to a number of other de velopments regarding modifications that 
had been noted in the annotated agenda prepared for the meeting.10 
                                                      
9 Subsequently circulated as GPA/90, dated 11 December 2006. 
10 Job No. 8987, dated 28 November 2006, para. 6.  GPA/M/31 
 Page 5 
 
 
  25. With respect to the proposed modification by Japan concerning NTT Communications11, the 
representative of the European Communities  recalled that there had been extensive exchanges of 
questions and replies between it and Japan over a long period.  The Eu ropean Communities had 
previously been of the view that the conditions had not been fulfilled for the withdrawal of its 
objection to this proposed modification by Japan.  Ne vertheless, Japan had faith fully and in a spirit of 
cooperation provided replies to the questions rai sed by the European Communities.  Following the 
latest information provided by Japan, the Europ ean Communities was now in a position to withdraw 
its objection to this proposed modification.  The European Communities' deci sion took account of the 
customary criteria relating to liberalization, and it believed that the telecommunications sector in 
Japan had considerably improved in this respect.  He  thanked Japan for its cooperation in this matter. 
26. The representative of the United States  said that it had had extensive discussions with Japan 
with respect to another of Japan's proposed m odifications, concerning the East Japan Railway 
Company, the Central Japan Railway Company and th e West Japan Railway Company.  The relevant 
modifications had been notified by Japan in 2001.12  After long and detailed discussions with Japan, 
the United States had been assured that government control and influence had been withdrawn with 
respect to these entities.  The United States had accordingly, in November 2006, withdrawn its 
objection to Japan's proposed modifications with respect to these three railway entities.13  She thanked 
Japan for its cooperation and productive discussions with the United States. 
27. With respect to the proposed withdrawal by the United States of the Uranium Enrichment 
Corporation14, the representative of the United States  thanked Japan for the withdrawal of its 
objection to this proposed modification15 and urged the other Party that has raised an objection to 
consider taking the same action. 
28. The representative of Japan  thanked the European Communities for the withdrawal of its 
objection to the proposed withdrawal of the NTT Corporation from Japan's Appendix I.  He also thanked the United States for the withdrawal of its objection to the three railway entities.  These 
represented important steps toward resolving pendi ng issues.  He hoped that the relevant Parties 
would also consider withdrawing their obj ections to pending modifications of Japan. 
29. The Committee
 took note of these developments and comments. 
C. ACCESSIONS  
30. The Chairman  noted that applications for accession to the Agreement on Government 
Procurement had been made by the following WTO Me mbers:  Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Jordan, 
the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Oman, Panama and Chinese Taipei.  During the reporting period, the 
following developments had occurred with respect to these applications: 
(i) Bulgaria  had circulated a communication in November 200616 withdrawing its 
pending application in the light of its intended accession to the European 
Communities on 1 January 2007 and its conse quent coverage under the Agreement as 
a member State of the Communities;  and 
                                                      
11 Notified in GPA/W/91, dated 6 September 1999. 
12 GPA/W/144, GPA/W/145 and GPA/W/146, dated 29 August 2001, and GPA/W/152 & Corr.1, dated 
20 September and 10 October 2001. 
13 GPA/MOD/JPN/25, dated 30 November 2006. 
14 Notified in GPA/W/153, dated 25 September 2001. 
15 GPA/MOD/USA/5, dated 30 November 2006. 
16 GPA/42/Rev.1, dated 17 November 2006. GPA/M/31 
Page 6  
 
  (ii) At the Committee's meeting of 2 June 2006, Jordan
 had made a statement reporting 
on developments in its accession process to the Agreement on Government Procurement.
17  Jordan's second revised entity offer had been submitted with a 
communication dated 19 October 2006.18 
31. Continuing, the Chairman recalled that at the meeting of the Committee on 2 June 2006 a 
Decision had been taken with regard to  Modalities of Accession to the Agreement.19 
32. He noted, further, that in addition to the above-referenced pending accessions to the 
Agreement, six other WTO Members had provisions in  their respective Protocols of Accession to the 
WTO regarding accession to the Agreement on Govern ment Procurement.  These were Armenia, 
China, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mongolia and Saudi Arabia.  In this 
context, he suggested that moving ahead with work  related to accessions should be an important focus 
of the Committee's work in 2007, particularly af ter all aspects of the ongoing negotiations had been 
concluded. 
33. The Committee took note  of these developments and comments. 
D. NOTIFICATION AND REVIEW OF NAT IONAL IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION  
34. The Chairman  said that at the Committee's meeting of April 2004, the Kingdom of the 
Netherlands with respect to Aruba had informed the Committee that the Government of Aruba had 
originally intended to introduce new implementing legislation and to subsequently answer the 
questions in GPA/1/Add.1 on the basis of such legisl ation.  Since that would be a lengthy process, the 
Government of Aruba had decided to answer the ques tionnaire on the basis of the current legislation.  
Its responses to the questionnaire in GPA/1/ Add.1 had subsequently been submitted in 
November 2004.20  However, Aruba had not yet subm itted the text of its legislation. 
35. Continuing, the Chairman said that, pursuant to Article XXIV:5(b) of the Agreement, Parties 
were required to inform the Committee of any chang es in their relevant laws and regulations and in 
the administration of such laws and regulations.  In line with this provision, Japan had notified a 
change in its national implemen ting legislation in March 2006.21 
36. The representative of the Netherlands with respect to Aruba  said that Aruba's present 
legislation (Law Number 58 of 1996) was incomplete  and that it was working on a new version.  Due 
to capacity constraints, however, this had not yet been finalized.  His delegation hoped to inform the 
Committee of progress made on this matter in subse quent meetings.  He took the opportunity to 
express his pleasure at the week's achievement with respect to the renegotiation of the text of the 
Agreement. 
37. The Committee  took note of these developments. 
E. ADOPTION OF THE COMMITTEE 'S ANNUAL REPORT TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL  
38. The Chairman  recalled that Article XXIV:7(a) of th e Agreement on Government Procurement 
required the Committee to review annually the impl ementation and operation of the Agreement and to 
inform the General Council of developments during the periods covered by such reviews.  The 2006 
report was to be considered at the General Counc il meeting on 14 December.  A draft of the Report, 
                                                      
17 GPA/M/30, dated 4 July 2006, para. 10. 
18 GPA/ACC/JOR/9, dated 31 October 2006. 
19 GPA/87, dated 2 June 2006. 
20 GPA/81, dated 23 November 2004. 
21 GPA/37/Add.3, dated 15 March 2006.  GPA/M/31 
 Page 7 
 
 
  covering the period from November 2005 through December 2006, had been circulated by the 
Secretariat in November 2006.22  Further, in the course of the informal closing session, the Secretariat 
had distributed an updated version of the report, to  take account of developments during the week's 
negotiations and other miscellaneous  developments.  He invited the Committee to discuss and adopt 
the draft report with any necessary modifications. 
39. The Committee agreed on a number of technical a nd editorial changes to the draft, following 
which it adopted  its annual report to the General Council for 2006.23 
40. The representative of the United States  recalled that the Committee had previously agreed to 
issue the text of the provisional Agreement on Government Procurement resulting from the 
negotiations as an unrestricted document.24  She proposed that the Secretariat also prepare a new 
version of the "side-by-side" text, reflecting the correspondences and differences between the new 
provisionally agreed text and the 1994 Agreement, which would also be issued as an unrestricted 
document.  This proposal was supported by th e representative of the European Communities , who 
further suggested that a draft of the side-by-side te xt first be circulated to Parties for any comments. 
41. The representative of Switzerland , supported by the representative of the European 
Communities , inquired about the expected time-frame for the availability of the French and Spanish 
language versions of the provisional Agreemen t and the proposed side-by-side text.  The 
representative of the Secretariat  said that it was hoped that translations would be circulated to 
participants in advance of the February 2007 meet ing of the Committee;  at that time participants 
might wish to give consideration to the process by  which they would ensure the faithfulness of the 
text in the two other WTO languages with that of the language of the negotiations. 
42. The Committee agreed  to proceed in the above manner. 
F. OTHER BUSINESS  - DATES OF THE COMMITTEE 'S MEETINGS IN 2007 
43. Following discussion, the Committee agreed  that the first set of meetings in 2007 would take 
place in the week of 12 to 16 February 2007.  In ad dition, the following othe r dates were pencilled in 
for the second and third meeting weeks of the year, respectively (to be confirmed in the course of the 
meetings held in the week of 12-16 February): 
(a) the week of 16 to 20 April 2007 (second meeting week);  and 
(b) the week of 11 to 15 June 2007 (third meeting week). 
44. The Chairman  said that these dates were without prejudice to any decision that Parties might 
wish to make as to the nature (formal vs. informal ), length and number of Committee meetings in the 
course of 2007 as a whole.  It was understood that much of the time in each meeting week would be 
devoted to bilateral meetings between delegations on market acce ss issues.  In addition to the 
arrangements that had been agreed on for the completion of the market access aspect of the 
negotiations (see paragraph 8), some time durin g each meeting week should be allocated to 
discussions relating to finalization of the provisiona lly agreed text of the Agreement in addition to 
preparation of the planned arbitration proce dures and indicative criteria, and transitional 
arrangements. 
__________ 
                                                      
22 Job No. 8980, dated 28 November 2006. 
23 GPA/89, dated 11 December 2006. 
24 Subsequently issued as GPA/ W/297, dated 11 December 2006.