IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 203 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States should work 
to expand membership in the Agreement on Government Procurement 
of the World Trade Organization and should urge the People’s Republic 
of China to enter into immediate negotiations to join that agreement, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 30, 2005 
Mr. RANGEL (for himself and Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Ways and Means 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States 
should work to expand membership in the Agreement 
on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organi-
zation and should urge the People’s Republic of China 
to enter into immediate negotiations to join that agree-
ment, and for other purposes. 
Whereas nondiscriminatory, procompetitive, merit-based, and 
technology-neutral procurement of goods and services is 
essential so that governments can acquire the best goods 
to meet their needs for the best value; 
Whereas the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) 
of the World Trade Organization (WTO) provides a mul-
•HCON 203 IH 
tilateral framework of rights and obligations founded on 
such principles; 
Whereas the United States is a member of the GPA, along 
with Canada, the European Union (including its 25 mem-
ber States: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Repub-
lic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, 
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Lux-
embourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slo-
vak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United 
Kingdom), Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, 
Liechtenstein, the Netherlands with respect to Aruba, 
Norway, Singapore, and Switzerland; 
Whereas Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Jordan, the Kyrgyz Re-
public, Moldova, Oman, Panama, and Taiwan are cur-
rently negotiating to accede to the GPA; 
Whereas the People’s Republic of China joined the WTO in 
December 2001, signaling to the international community 
its commitment to greater openness; 
Whereas when China joined the WTO, it committed, in its 
protocol of accession, to negotiate entry into the GPA ‘‘as 
soon as possible’’; 
Whereas more than 3 years after its entry into the WTO, 
China has not commenced negotiations to join the GPA; 
Whereas recent legal developments in China illustrate the im-
portance and urgency of expanding membership in the 
GPA; 
Whereas in 2002, China enacted a law on government pro-
curement that incorporates preferences for domestic 
goods and services;
•HCON 203 IH 
Whereas the first sector for which the Chinese Government 
has sought to implement the new government procure-
ment law is computer software; 
Whereas in March 2005 the Chinese Government released 
draft regulations governing the procurement of computer 
software; 
Whereas the draft regulations require that non-Chinese soft-
ware companies meet conditions relating to outsourcing 
of software development work to China, technology trans-
fer, and similar requirements, in order to be eligible to 
participate in the Chinese Government market; 
Whereas as a result of the proposed regulations, it appears 
likely that a very substantial amount of American soft-
ware will be excluded from the government procurement 
process in China; 
Whereas United States software companies have made a sub-
stantial commitment to the Chinese market and have 
made a substantial contribution to the development of 
China’s software industry; 
Whereas the outright exclusion of substantial amounts of 
software not of Chinese origin that is apparently con-
templated in the regulations is out of step with domestic 
preferences that exist in the procurement laws and prac-
tices of other WTO member countries, including the 
United States; 
Whereas the draft regulations do not adhere to the principles 
of nondiscriminatory, procompetitive, merit-based, and 
technology-neutral procurement embodied in the GPA; 
Whereas the software piracy rate in China has never fallen 
below 90 percent over the past 10 years;
•HCON 203 IH 
Whereas Chinese Government entities represent a very sig-
nificant portion of the software market in China that is 
not dominated by piracy; 
Whereas the combined effect of rampant software piracy and 
the proposed discriminatory government procurement 
regulations will be a nearly impenetrable barrier to mar-
ket access for the United States software industry in 
China; 
Whereas the United States trade deficit with China in 2004 
was $162,000,000,000, the highest with any economy in 
the world, and a 12.4 percent increase over 2003; 
Whereas China’s Premier, Wen Jiabao, has committed to rec-
tify this serious imbalance by increasing China’s imports 
of goods and services from the United States; 
Whereas the proposed software procurement regulations that 
were described by the Chinese Government in November 
2004 incorporate policies that are fully at odds with Pre-
mier Wen’s commitment to increase China’s imports from 
the United States, and will add significantly to the trade 
imbalance between the United States and China; 
Whereas once it is fully implemented, the discriminatory as-
pects of China’s government procurement law will apply 
to all goods and services that the government procures; 
and 
Whereas other developing countries may follow the lead of 
China: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that— 
(1) the Government of the United States should 
strive to expand membership in the Agreement on
•HCON 203 IH 
Government Procurement of the World Trade Orga-
nization (WTO); 
(2) the Government of the United States should 
seek commitments from the Government of the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China to enter into immediate ne-
gotiations to accede to the Agreement on Govern-
ment Procurement of the WTO, in accordance with 
commitments made by China in 2001 upon joining 
the WTO; 
(3) the Government of the United States should 
seek a commitment from the Government of the 
People’s Republic of China to suspend implementa-
tion of its law on government procurement, pending 
the conclusion of negotiations to accede to the 
Agreement on Government Procurement of the 
WTO; 
(4) the Government of the United States should 
seek commitments from the Government of the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China and other countries that are 
not yet members of the Agreement on Government 
Procurement of the WTO to implement the prin-
ciples of openness, transparency, fair competition 
based on merit, nondiscrimination, and account-
ability in their government procurement as embodied 
in that agreement; and
•HCON 203 IH 
(5) the President should direct all appropriate 
officials of the United States to raise these concerns 
with appropriate officials of the People’s Republic of 
China and other trading partners. 
Æ