Agreement on Government Procurement
World Trade Organization
Notes

The terms "country" or "countries" as used in this Agreement, including the Appendices, are to be understood to include any separate customs territory Party to this Agreement.

In the case of a separate customs territory Party to this Agreement, where an expression in this Agreement is qualified by the term "national", such expression shall be read as pertaining to that customs territory, unless otherwise specified.

Article 1, paragraph 1

Having regard to general policy considerations relating to tied aid, including the objective of developing countries with respect to the untying of such aid, this Agreement does not apply to procurement made in furtherance of tied aid to developing countries so long as it is practised by Parties.

Footnote: 1
For each Party, Appendix I is divided into five Annexes:

- Annex 1 contains central government entities.
- Annex 2 contains sub-central government entities.
- Annex 3 contains all other entities that procure in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.
- Annex 4 specifies services, whether listed positively or negatively, covered by this Agreement.
- Annex 5 specifies covered construction services.
Relevant thresholds are specified in each Party's Annexes.

Footnote: 2
This Agreement shall apply to any procurement contract for which the contract value is estimated to equal or exceed the threshold at the time of publication of the notice in accordance with Article IX.

Footnote: 3
For the purpose of this Agreement, a technical regulation is a document which lays down characteristics of a product or a service or their related processes and production methods, including the applicable administrative provisions, with which compliance is mandatory. It may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labelling requirements as they apply to a product, service, process or production method.

Footnote: 4
For the purpose of this Agreement, a standard is a document approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for products or services or related processes and production methods, with which compliance is not mandatory. It may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labelling requirements as they apply to a product, service, process or production method.

Footnote: 5
It is the understanding that "existing equipment" includes software to the extent that the initial procurement of the software was covered by the Agreement.

Footnote: 6
Original development of a first product or service may include limited production or supply in order to incorporate the results of field testing and to demonstrate that the product or service is suitable for production or supply in quantity to acceptable quality standards. It does not extend to quantity production or supply to establish commercial viability or to recover research and development costs.

Footnote: 7
Offsets in government procurement are measures used to encourage local development or improve the balance-of-payments accounts by means of domestic content, licensing of technology, investment requirements, counter-trade or similar requirements.

Footnote: 8
For the purpose of this Agreement, the term "government" is deemed to include the competent authorities of the European Communities.

Footnote: 9
All provisions of the 1988 Agreement except the Preamble, Article VII and Article IX other than paragraphs 5(a) and (b) and paragraph 10.

Final provisions