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In a bid to open up the estimated $3.1 trillion per year government procurement market, the US and the European Union (EU) are seeking a comprehensive agreement on transparency in procurement among World Trade Organisation members.

The developed countries are also pushing to bring more countries under the disciplines of the plurilateral WTO government procurement agreement. Curre- ntly, only 26 of the 133 WTO members are participating in the pact, which was signed in Marrakesh in April 1994 and entered into force on January 1, 1996.

According to US estimates, government purchases annually cross $3.1 trillion, much of it in sectors where the US sets the standards, like high technology, telecommunications, construction, engineering, aerospace etc. The US is keen that the agreement creates more predictable and competitive bidding, reduces the opportunity for corruption and that more developing countries accede to it.

 

The procurement market, according to EU estimates, accounts for up to 15 per cent of GDP in most developed and developing countries. EC companies, it is argued, have limited guaranteed access to this market. "The EC will press for a high degree of transparency in procurement coupled with a phased programme of gradual market opening", said European Parliament member Anita Pollack in Brussels.

EU said the latter could take the form of a negotiated timetable to eliminate exceptions from the principle of non-discrimination and expand coverage.

It is in the long-term interest of the EU to press for multilateralisation of the pact to cover government establishments at central and sub-central levels, besides a dispute settlement mechanism.