Since the early days of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), government procurement has been a topic sensitive to the developing world. Developed nations with the aim of promoting competition, transparency and enhanced value for money, entered into a plurilateral agreement to govern government procurement. This was later revised to enhance the level of commitments. Currently, over forty-eight WTO Members are signatories to the plurilateral agreement on government procurement. This leaves a large proportion of the membership still tied to the GATT-era commitments on government procurement. The extent of these commitments was later extended to other multilateral agreements such as the TRIMS (Trade Related Investment Measures), SCM Agreement (Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures), and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). This article aims to identify the extent of the commitments related to government procurement in these multilateral agreements and map out the policy space available to the developing countries.
Global Trade and Customs Journal