(EU) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR)? - FDCL

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114 The agreement on government procurement within the WTO has been in effect since January 1, 1996 as a plurilateral agreement, i.e., it is only binding for the states that have signed the agreement. It comprises all areas of public procurement, which have been previously defined by means of a positive-list by each state, so that the mentioned sectors are subjected to the rules of international trade like NT, MFN, market access and overall transparency. Any possibility of regulatory intervention is prohibited to the respective state, which has signed the agreement. The parties to the agreement are: “Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, European Community, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong China, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Netherlands with respect to Aruba, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.” 323 Argentina is currently the only MERCOSUR country with the status of an “observer government”. If this sector of public procurement is subjected to the principle of NT, as repeatedly demanded by the European Commission in the EU-MERCOSUR free trade negotiations, then large increases in sales in the then completely liberalized markets of MERCOSUR would become possible for European corporations: “Government procurement is the term used for the purchasing activities of governmental authorities and covers purchases of everything from pencils and paper clips to computer systems and telecommunications equipment, ship building or consulting services. Government procurement is specifically exempted from the most basic of WTO disciplines (GATT Articles III:8 and XIII: 1), in particular that of national treatment. Since it accounts for up to 15% of GDP, this significantly distorts trade and reduces potential growth. The only WTO regime on procurement now in existence is the plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), but apart from the Community, participation in this Agreement remains limited to a dozen or so Parties. The Community believes that this situation must be redressed. The Community’s own procurement market is effectively open to foreign competition but, outside the GPA, EC companies are often either de facto or de jure excluded from foreign procurement markets.” 324 The European side of the negotiations has presented their offer for public procurement within the framework of the EU-MERCOSUR free trade negotiations on July 14, 2003, and has shown itself “highly disappointed”, that MERCOSUR has not presented any counter-offer: 323 http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/gproc_e/memobs_e.htm. 324 http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/sectoral/gov_proc/index_en.htm.
“In the on-going talks between the EU and MERCOSUR for the resolution of an Association Agreement, the European Commission has tabled its offer on public procurement. The intention of this move was to inject dynamism to the last round of negotiations held in Asunción (Paraguay) between 23 and 27 of June 2003. Government procurement was not discussed in Asuncion, contrary to the agreed work program, given the absence of a MERCOSUR offer. EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said: “We have made ambitious proposals to open our market for trade in goods and in services and to create rules on investments, to which we now add government procurement. This is a clear a sign of our commitment to move full steam ahead. I hope MERCO- SUR tables its proposal soon, so that we may inject new dynamism into the negotiations.” The EU’s offer on government procurement is the largest offer ever proposed in a bilateral trade negotiation. It is a WTO + proposal in that it goes beyond the EU’s engagements under the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. This offer would give MERCOSUR companies access to the EU’s lucrative government procurement market worth 200 billion Euros or about 2,4 % of the EU GDP. The offer would allow MERCOSUR companies to participate in EU government procurement markets for goods, services and construction at preferential conditions over those applied by the EU to other WTO members.” 325 Everything will function exclusively according to the rules of the market; the only criteria will be price and efficiency. The corporations in the industrial countries are very well prepared for this. Lastly it is about maintaining the brutally high profit rates of corporations – especially European ones. And this makes the restless commitment of the European Commission to the global deregulation of national markets by regulation of international trade and investment regimes extremely understandable. 325 http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/mercosur/intro/ip03_1014.htm. 115
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Christian Russau Enforcement of int
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Preface Since the end of 1999 the C
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If the “Interregional Association
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8 Chapter 5: The enforcement of int
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10 1.1 Negotiations of the “Inter
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12 A similar agreement of the so-ca
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14 tute in the eyes of many countri
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16 amaraty, where the FTAA-negotiat
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18 free trade agreement between the
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20 at the UN Millenium Summit to ha
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22 on the possibility of a unilater
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24 tual contradictions between the
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26 fired. The workers union OGB-L,
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28 policy and EU development policy
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Chapter 2: Foreign direct investmen
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50% in 2002 as compared to the prev
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The reasons for propagating this co
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• according to a study conducted
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promotion of domestic demand, in or
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2.2 International Agreements and Tr
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2.3 The World Trade Organization WT
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• trade and investment • compet
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2.3.3 The GATS agreement The Genera
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which works on a profit-basis, sees
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“deadline: by 1 January 2005”.
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“discrimination” or “expropri
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Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC)
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58 3.1 European foreign investment
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60 zations and liberalization in La
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62 the profitability, on the electr
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(EU) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR)? - FDCL

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