RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/WGTGP/M/7
25 May 1999
(99-2093)
Working Group on Transparency
in Government Procurement
REPORT ON THE MEETING OF 24-25 FEBRUARY 1999
Note by the Secretariat
1. The Working Group on Transparency in Government Procurement held its seventh meeting
on 24-25 February 1999 under the chairmanship of Ambassador Ronald Saborío Soto (Costa Rica).
2. The agenda for this meeting consisted of:  (i) transparency-related provisions in existing
international instruments on government procurement and national procedures and practices;  and
(ii) requests for observer status by international intergovernmental organizations.  In addition, a
number of delegations made general statements at the outset of the meeting.
A.G ENERAL STATEMENTS
3. The representative of the United States said that, at the discussion in the General Council
intersessional meetings of 27 January and 2 February 1999 on issues pertaining to paragraph 9(b) of
the 1998 Ministerial Declaration, there had appeared to be broad support, both among developed and
developing country Members, for pursuing an agreement on transparency in government procurement.It had been understood by all Members that the Singapore mandate was strictly limited to
transparency and did not extend to market access in the area of government procurement.  The
requirements in an eventual agreement should not call into question national policies, including those
that were deemed necessary to achieve certain socio-economic and development objectives, such as
domestic preferences, provided that they were administered in a transparent manner.  Without
prejudging the views of Members with regard to the plurilateral Agreement on Government
Procurement, his delegation considered that the detailed procedural requirements of that Agreementshould not be replicated in an agreement on transparency.  Instead, a future agreement should set forth
a flexible framework of procedural rules that would be focused on the core principles of transparency
without sacrificing the basic disciplines in this respect.  Having successfully completed its task of
analysis, at least with regard to certain elements, the Group was well placed to begin focused work on
the development of a number of elements, for example those raised in Sections III to VIII of the Listof Issues.  It would need to continue its analytical work on some of the more complicated issues raised
which would need more in-depth study.
4. The representative of the European Community said that her delegation supported the views
expressed by the representative of the United States.  The work of the Working Group on
Transparency in Government Procurement was separate from the work related to the Agreement onGovernment Procurement.  The rules of a future tr ansparency agreement might be more flexible than
those prescribed in the plurilateral Agreement.  While the European Community was a Party to the
plurilateral Agreement, its approach in the work of  the Working Group had always been to look at the
basic principles of transparency in government procurement.  If those principles turned out to be the
same as those of the plurilateral Agreement, this would simply mean the Agreement on GovernmentProcurement reflected them adequately and should not be taken to imply that the rules of theWT/WGTGP/M/7
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Agreement on Government Procurement had been imposed on Members that were not Parties to that
Agreement.
B. TRANSPARENCY -RELATED PROVISIONS IN EXISTING INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS ON
GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT AND NATIONAL PROCEDURES AND PRACTICES
5. For its discussion of this item, the Working Group had before it the informal note by the
Chair, entitled "List of Issues Raised and Points Made", listing the issues that had been raised,
together with the points made on these issues, under each of the items that were discussed by the
Group at its meetings in November 1997, February, June and October 1998 (Annex to the Report of
the Working Group to the General Council for 1998, circulated in document WT/WGTGP/2).  As an
auxiliary informal paper for the use of Members wanting to draw on it, delegations also had available
to them a revision of the informal note by the Secretariat, "List of Proposals on Items III-VII of the
Checklist" reflecting the proposals made on items III-VII in a succinct form, which identified thesource of the different proposals and summarized the written and oral comments on these proposals
(Job No. 690).
6. The Group took up, in turn, each of the sections in the note "List of the Issues Raised and
Points Made".  Under the relevant sections, the following representatives introduced their written
contributions:  the representative of the European Community on methods of procurement
(Job No. 699), the representative of Norway on publication of information on national legislation and
procedures (Job No. 1067), the representative of the United States on evaluation criteria and technical
specifications (Job No. 1027), the representative of Australia, respectively, on rights and
responsibilities of government as a buyer, value for money in government procurement,accountability and due process (Job No. 1043). Points made are reflected in a revision of thisdocument and also in a revised version of the "List of Proposals on Items III-VII of the Checklist"
(Job Nos. 2934 and 2950, respectively).
7. After discussion of the sections of the note "List of the Issues Raised and Points Made", the
representative of Venezuela introduced a non-paper on transparency in government procurement and
the fight against bribery (Job No. 481).  He said that the purpose of the non-paper was to provide a
basis for a discussion in the Working Group of the relation of the phenomenon of bribery to its work.
His delegation was aware that the fight against bribery and corruption was a difficult matter as well as
a politically delicate one.  However, his delegation sought the cooperation of Members in finding
solutions to problems that were common to all countries.
8. In response to the requests by some delegations, the Working Group agreed that the
Secretariat would make available to delegations, upon request, the texts of the OAS Inter-American
Convention against Corruption and the OECD Conv ention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public
Officials in International Business Transactions.1
9. The Working Group agreed that at the next meeting it would pursue its work under this
agenda item in the following way:  (i) it would reve rt to the issues contained in the "List of Issues
Raised and Points Made", on the basis of a further version of this note updated in the light of the
discussion at the present meeting and the new papers submitted;  and (ii) delegations would also haveavailable to them a revised version of the informal note reflecting the proposals made on
items III-VII.
                                                     
1 Available, on request, from Office No. 3014 (tel.  739 51 87).WT/WGTGP/M/7
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C. OBSERVER STATUS OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
10. The Working Group agreed to revert to the requests from intergovernmental organizations for
observer status (OECD, SELA and OIC) in the light of the consultations that were currently being
held by the Chairman of the General Council on this matter.
D. DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
11. The Working Group agreed to hold its next meeting on 28-29 June 1999, without prejudice to
any informal consultations that may prove to be necessary in the interval.
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