EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 202/85

AGREEMENT

between the European Community and the State of Israel on government procurement

The EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (hereinafter referred to as ‘the EC’),

of the one part, and

The GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL, acting on behalf of the State of Israel (hereinafter referred to as ‘Israel’),

of the other part,

hereinafter referred to as the ‘Parties’,

CONSIDERING the Parties' efforts and commitments to liberalize their respective public procurement markets through the Government Procurement Agreement (1996 GPA);

DESIROUS to improve access to their respective procurement markets and to broaden the scope of their respective Appendices I to the GPA,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Obligation of the EC

1. In order to complement and broaden the scope of its commitments under the GPA vis-à-vis Israel, the EC undertakes to amend its General Notes to Appendix I of the GPA as follows:

— after General Note 1, second indent, letter (e) to read: ‘(urban transport) to the suppliers and service providers of Canada, Japan, Korea and the USA; to the suppliers and service providers of Israel, as regards bus services;’.

2. The EC shall notify the WTO Secretariat of such amendment within one month from the entry into force of this Agreement.

Article 2

Obligations of Israel

1. In order to complement and broaden the scope of its commitments under the GPA vis-à-vis the EC, Israel undertakes to amend its Annexes and Notes to Appendix I of the GPA as follows:

(a) add to the List of Entities in Annex 3: ‘... All entities operating in the field of urban transport, except those operating in the field of bus services ...’;

(b) add to Note 2 in Annex 3 the following paragraph: ‘With regard to procurement by entities operating in the field of urban transport, except those operating in the field of bus services, this Agreement shall apply only to goods and services, including construction services, of the European Community.’ Israel is willing to negotiate the opening of procurement by entities operating in the field of urban transport, except those operating in the field of bus services, to other code members under the condition of reciprocity;

(c) add the following services to the list of Annex 4: ‘6112, 6122, 633, 886 Maintenance and repair services 874, 82201-82206 Building-cleaning services and property management services 88442 Publishing and printing services on a fee or contract basis.’; The Parties agree that Israel shall use its best endeavours to extend its list of services under the GPA with regard to the EC, in accordance with the terms provided for in Article 4 (4) of this Agreement;

(d) amend Note 1 to Annex 1 as follows: ‘— Medical dressings (bandages, adhesive tapes excluding gauze bandage and gauze pads).’

2. Israel shall notify the WTO Secretariat of such amendments within one month from the entry into force of this Agreement.

3. Notwithstanding Article 2 (1) (d) above, if Israel, with respect to another GPA party, reduces or disapplies its exceptions as set out in Notes to Annex 3 in the 1996 GPA, it shall offer the same benefit to the EC on a reciprocal basis.

Israel will not, by law, procedure of practice, require hospitals not covered under the 1996 GPA to discriminate against EC products, services or suppliers.

Without prejudice to any separate agreement between the Parties to this Agreement, with regard to its offset requirements and procedures and its thresholds' levels, Israel shall treat EC suppliers, service providers, products and services no less favourably than other GPA Parties' suppliers, service providers, products and services.

4. With respect to the procurements above a threshold of 550 000 SDR by the municipalities not covered by the List of Entities in Annex 2 of the 1996 GPA Israel shall treat products, services and suppliers of the EC no less favourably than domestic products, services and suppliers.

Israel shall use its best endeavours to apply to these procurements the procedures set out in the GPA. To this end Israel will submit in due time to the GPA Secretariat a list of entities to be added to the present Annex 2 to the GPA under the conditions of reciprocity.

Article 3

Consultations

The Parties shall, upon the request of either Party, and at least once a year, hold consultations on the functioning and implementation of this Agreement. This provision shall be without prejudice to the consultation procedures provided for by the GPA.

Article 4

Final provisions

1. This Agreement is drawn up in duplicate in the Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Hebrew languages, each of these texts being equally authentic. It shall apply to the same territories respectively of the EC and of Israel as the GPA applies.

2. This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the date on which the Parties have notified each other that their ratification or conclusion or adoption process, according to the rules applicable to each Party, has been completed.

3. This Agreement does not affect the rights and obligations of the parties under the WTO or other multilateral instruments concluded under the auspices of the WTO.

4. The Parties shall complete a review of the functioning of this Agreement not later than three years from the date of this entry into force with the aim of improving its operation and coverage, if necessary.