The WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) is a "plurilateral" agreement, which means that it applies to a number of WTO Members, but not all Members.
The GPA's membership is limited to the WTO Members that specifically signed the GPA or that have subsequently acceded to the Agreement. WTO Members are not required to join the GPA, but the United States strongly encourages all WTO Members to participate in this important agreement. Several countries, including China, Jordan, and Moldova, are currently negotiating accession to the GPA.
The 15 Parties to the GPA are: Armenia, Canada, the European Union (and its 27 Member States -- Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, , Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), Hong Kong China, Iceland, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands with respect to Aruba, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), and the United States.
On March 30, 2012, the GPA Parties adopted a revision of the GPA. The revised Agreement expands the procurement covered under the GPA to provide U.S. goods, services, and suppliers with new opportunities to participate in central and sub-central procurement in the other GPA Parties. The revised Agreement also includes a significant improvement of the text of the Agreement by modernizing the text to reflect current procurement practices and clarifying its obligations. The revised Agreement will enter into force for those Parties that have accepted it on the 30th day following such deposit by two-thirds of the Parties to the current Agreement, and thereafter for each Party that accepts it on the 30th day following acceptance.
For the full text of the revised GPA and the new annexes that set out the procurement covered by all of the GPA Parties, see GPA-113.
Links to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement are below.
GPA Appendix I:
Defines the coverage of each GPA Party's obligations under the GPA
- Annex 1: central government entities
- Annex 2: sub-central government entities
- Annex 3: all other entities that procure in accordance with the GPA
- Annex 4: services that each Party covers under the GPA
- Annex 5: construction services that each Party covers under the GPA
Government Procurement Legislation of GPA Parties
U.S. Government Procurement covered under the GPA
USTR Waivers of Discriminatory Purchasing Requirements
