North Macedonia Joins WTO Government Procurement Act

The Government Procurement Agreement 2012 (GPA), under the World Trade Organisation (WTO), aims to establish fair, open, and transparent competition in government procurement markets worldwide, which collectively exceeds $13 trillion.

The GPA consists of 21 parties representing 48 WTO members, with an additional 35 WTO members participating in the Committee on Government Procurement as observers. Through this agreement, international competition has gained access to procurement opportunities estimated at over $1.7 trillion annually.

During the recent Committee on Government Procurement meeting, it was announced that North Macedonia will soon become the 49th WTO member to be covered by the GPA. Following several years of preparation, North Macedonia will officially become a GPA member 30 days after submitting its instrument of accession to the WTO’s Director-General.

The GPA outlines rules to ensure fairness, openness, and transparency in government procurement. However, these rules don’t automatically apply to every procurement activity of each party. The coverage schedules play a crucial role in determining if a procurement activity is included in the agreement. Only those activities where covered organisations purchase specific goods, services, or construction services surpassing certain threshold values are included in the agreement. These schedules are publicly available here.

You can find more information on the GPA here

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