Green Public Procurement under WTO Law


Book Description

This book investigates the strategic use of public procurement as a way to establish “buying green” as a common practice – not only in the EU, but all over the world. However, imposing environmental requirements may affect the conditions of competition between suppliers, especially between local and foreign ones. This is particularly relevant for signatory states to the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), a plurilateral WTO agreement that aims at liberalizing public procurement markets. So how can these countries strike a balance between trade concerns and using the environmental potential of public procurement? What scope does the GPA 2012 leave for environmental criteria and how are signatory states making use of it? The need for answers to these questions is becoming even more pressing with the increasing use of green public procurement (GPP). This book discusses approaches to finding legal solutions to this question, using a multilayered approach to do so: In a first step, an analysis of the pertinent GPA provisions serves to delineate the scope for GPP under WTO law. In a second step, an evaluation of the implementation of the respective provision at the regional and national level by the EU and Switzerland helps reveal the impact of the GPA on its signatory states. While the book chiefly focuses on the legal framework for GPP, it also takes into account the latest developments in jurisprudence and policy initiatives. It concludes by proposing practical solutions regarding the specific design of GPP policies and measures in compliance with the GPA. The comparative approach applied in the book, focusing on the implementation of the WTO/GPA by two selected signatories, makes it an informative and insightful resource for practitioners, policymakers and legal scholars from all GPA signatory countries, extending its relevance beyond the selected examples (the EU and Switzerland).




The WTO Regime on Government Procurement


Book Description

Originally an important but relatively obscure plurilateral instrument, the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) is now becoming a pillar of the WTO system as a result of important developments since the Uruguay Round. This collection examines the issues and challenges that this raises for the GPA, as well as future prospects for addressing government procurement at a multilateral level. Coverage includes issues relating to pending accessions to the GPA, particularly those of developing countries with a large state sector such as China; the revised (provisionally agreed) GPA text of 2006, including provisions on electronic procurement and Special and Differential Treatment for Developing Countries; and procurement provisions in regional trade agreements and their significance for the multilateral system. Attention is also given to emerging issues, especially those concerning environmental, social and SME policy; competition law; and the implications of the recent economic crisis.




Green Public Procurement Strategies for Environmental Sustainability


Book Description

The worldwide consumption of resources is causing environmental damage at a rate that cannot be sustained. Apart from the resulting environmental and health problems, this trend could threaten economic growth due to rapidly decreasing natural resources and the cost of addressing these issues. The public sector has a responsibility to stimulate the marketplace in favor of the provision of more resource-efficient and less polluting goods, services, and works in order to support environmental and wider sustainable development objectives. Green Public Procurement Strategies for Environmental Sustainability provides innovative insights on the adoption and implementation of green public procurement for sustainable practice in order to contribute to environmental protection. The content within this publication examines climate change, sustainable development, and document analysis and is designed for policymakers, environmentalists, managers, suppliers, development agencies, government officials, academicians, researchers, students, and professionals.




Government Procurement in the WTO


Book Description

In the World Trade Organization regime, government procurement is largely excluded from the multilateral agreements. The 'plurilateral' WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, with its challenging accession procedures and limited number of signatories, cannot be said to succeed in its efforts to liberalize this area of trade activity–more than 10 percent of gross domestic product in most countries. This insightful and thoroughly researched study investigates the special sensitivities of government procurement that have left major trade barriers intact despite the WTO mandate that has proven so effective in other areas. Professor Arrowsmith examines the following crucial factors in depth: why and how procurement practices create barriers to trade the institutional structure for dealing with government procurement in the GATT/WTO system the impact of relevant WTO law on national legal systems the types of contracts and entities covered in the Agreement on Government Procurement how the National Treatment principle and the Most Favored Nation obligation affect government procurement rules of WTO contract award procedure and the controversy over their interpretation and revision the free trade vs. social and environmental issues question in the context of government procurement and the monitoring and enforcement of WTO procurement rules Throughout the presentation the author focuses on specific issues to illuminate the overall pattern of her legal analysis. For example, practical questions stemming from such activities as multi-phase tendering and electronic procurement are raised for special scrutiny. The legal literature of the WTO and its jurisprudence are frequently brought into Professor Arrowsmith's arguments. The result is a new work of major significance-a work that government procurement officials in every country, whatever their field, cannot afford to ignore. The value of Government Procurement in the WTO to lawyers and scholars in the field goes without saying. Review' Beneath its somewhat ordinary title is a work of extraordiary depth and quality. Although written by a law professor, this book is far more than a traditional legal textbook. In exceptionally lucid writing, the aithor sets forth a comprehensive study of the World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations ('Articles') on public procurement and their omplications.'




International Cooperation and the Reform of Public Procurement Policies


Book Description

The decision not to launch negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) on three of the Singapore Issues in the so-called July 2004 package provides an opportunity to revisit the knowledge base on which proposals for further international collective action may be drawn. This paper examines the available evidence on public procurement practices in developing countries that could be relevant to further multilateral rule making on state purchasing. Although there is considerable agreement on ends (efficient, non-corrupt, and transparent public purchasing systems), little information is available on means and, in particular, on the effective and replicable strategies that developing countries can adopt to improve their public procurement systems. A concerted effort to substantially add to the knowledge base on public procurement reforms in developing countries, through targeted research and international exchange of information on implemented procurement policies and outcomes, is critical to identifying areas where further binding multilateral disciplines may be beneficial.




The Environmental Performance of Public Procurement Issues of Policy Coherence


Book Description

Examines country initiatives to reduce the environmentally damaging effects of public procurement by introducing "greener public purchasing initiatives" such as requiring recycled content or levels of energy efficiency in purchased products.




The Internationalization of Government Procurement Regulation


Book Description

As governments are major buyers of goods and services, foreign companies are keen to be able to participate in procurement opportunities on an equal footing with national firms. This has given rise to the inclusion of procurement disciplines in trade agreements and to internationally-agreed good regulatory practices in this important policy area. The contributions to this book examine how the dynamic mix of bilateral, regional, plurilateral and international norms on government procurement is reflected in purchasing practices at the national level and whether these are leading to convergence in policies and approaches. The countries studied span both advanced, high-income economies and emerging economies. Some are members of the WTO procurement agreement, others are not. Most WTO members have decided not to commit to binding international disciplines on procurement in trade agreements. This book explores whether there has been nonetheless internationalization of good procurement practices, and what current public purchasing processes suggest as regards the value added of signing on to binding rules of the game in this area. The approach taken in the volume is interdisciplinary. Contributors include economists, political scientists, legal scholars, and practitioners with a solid understanding of both the extant international disciplines and national government procurement policies. Each chapter assesses the current state of play as regards legislation and procurement practices; the degree to which industrial policy considerations feature in the relevant regulatory frameworks; the existence and use of domestic dispute resolution and review procedures that allow firms to contest the behavior of procuring entities; and the availability of data on procurement processes and outcomes.




Government procurement: Market access, transparencxy, and multilateral trade rukles


Book Description

The effects on national welfare and market access of two important public procurement practices (discrimination and non-transparency) are analyzed with an eye to the ongoing discussions on procurement reform in the Doha Round. The analysis suggests that the welfare payoffs of adopting mechanisms that foster domestic competition and transparency are likely to be greater than the return to efforts to ban international discrimination. However improved transparency, which may well reduce corruption, is unlikely to also result in significant enhancements in market access. This in turn raises questions about the likely enforceability of a WTO agreement on transparency in procurement.




Law and Policy in Public Purchasing


Book Description

The Government Procurement Act (GPA) aims to subject public purchasing to international competition. However, many developing countries, along with others such as Australia and New Zealand, have refused to join the GPA on the grounds that it is not in their best interest. This volume examines the GPA and discusses what could be done to improve it with a view to expanding its membership. The contributors focus on four broad issues: the negotiating history, content, and operation of the GPA; the economics of the GPA's rules and disciplines; the implementation of the GPA in domestic legal systems; and, finally, possible alternatives to - and improvements on - the current set of multilateral rules and disciplines. Offering the most comprehensive assessment of the subject available, the volume will be of interest to scholars of international trade, as well as people whose work involves them in government procurement - from the buyers and sellers of goods and services to those concerned with legal aspects of public purchasing.