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, Russia, and the Kyrgyz Republic are currently negotiating accession to the GPA.
The 21 Parties to the GPA are: Armenia, Australia, Canada, the European Union (and its 27 Member States -- Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, 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, and Sweden), Hong Kong China, Iceland, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Liechtenstein, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands with respect to Aruba, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Ukraine, the United Kingdom, 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 entered into force on April 6, 2014 after ten parties, two-thirds of the Parties to the Agreement at that time, deposited their instrument of acceptance.
Links to the revised Government Procurement Agreement and the 1994 Government Procurement Agreement are below.
Defines the coverage of each GPA Party's obligations under the revised GPA
- Annex 1: central government entities
- Annex 2: sub-central government entities
- Annex 3: other entities
- Annex 4: goods
- Annex 5: services
- Annex 6: construction services
- Annex 7: general notes
Defines the coverage of each GPA Party's obligations under the 1994 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
- General Notes
Government Procurement Legislation of GPA Parties
USTR Waiver of Discriminatory Purchasing Requirements (85 FR 39037, June 29, 2020)
- FR Notice Moldova GPA Accession (July 14, 2016)
- FR Notice Ukraine GPA Accession (May 18, 2016)
- FR Notice New Zealand GPA Accession (August 12, 2015)
- FR Notice Montenegro GPA Accession (July 15, 2015)
- FR Notice Croatia GPA Accession (September 30, 2013)
- FR Notice Armenia GPA Accession (September 15, 2011)
- For Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), 74 FR 34071 (July 14, 2009)
