Council Decision (EU) 2019/349 of 22 February 2019 establishing the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Committee on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organisation on the accession of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Revised Agreement on Government Procurement in the context of its withdrawal from the European Union

• CELEX: Decision (EU) 2019/349
• Articles: 5

Article 1

The position to be taken on behalf of the Union in the Committee on Government Procurement (‘the GPA Committee’) shall be to approve the accession of the United Kingdom to the Revised Agreement on Government Procurement (‘the Revised GPA’), subject to the conditions laid down in Article 2 of this Decision and to the terms of accession set out in the Annex to this Decision, insofar as the Union's interests are not negatively affected by the position of other Parties to the GPA.

Article 2

The position to be taken on behalf of the Union pursuant to Article 1 shall be subject to the condition that the decision of the GPA Committee contains provisions ensuring the following:

(1)

in the absence of a withdrawal agreement between the United Kingdom and the Union providing for a transition period, the United Kingdom is allowed to deposit its instrument of accession with the Director-General of the WTO provided it does so:

(a)

not earlier than 30 days before the date on which the United Kingdom ceases to be a Member State; and

(b)

within six months of the date of the decision of the GPA Committee, unless the period for submission of the instrument is extended by that Committee;

(2)

the deposit of the United Kingdom's instrument of accession is deemed not to have taken place for the purposes of Article XXIV:2 of the 1994 GPA and Article XXII:2 of the Revised GPA if, within 30 days following that deposit, the Union notifies the GPA Committee that the United Kingdom continues to be covered by the Revised GPA pursuant to Union law.

Article 3

In the event that Union law will continue to apply to and in the United Kingdom, the Commission is authorised to notify the GPA Committee, on behalf of the Union, within 30 days of the deposit of the United Kingdom's instrument of accession, that the United Kingdom continues to be covered by the Revised GPA pursuant to Union law.

Article 4

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.

Schedules & Appendices

ANNEX

ANNEX

EU TERMS OF UNITED KINGDOM's ACCESSION TO THE GPA IN ITS OWN RIGHT

Upon the entry into force of the Agreement on Government Procurement for the United Kingdom in its own right:

—

point 1 of Section 2 (‘The Central Government Contracting Authorities of EU Member States’) of Annex 1 to Appendix I of the European Union under the revised Agreement shall read as follows:

‘1.

For the goods, services, suppliers and service providers of Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, The Netherlands with respect to Aruba and the United Kingdom, procurement by all central government contracting authorities of EU member States. The list below is indicative’.

—

Section 2 of Annex 6 to Appendix I of the European Union under the revised Agreement shall read as follows:

‘Works concessions contracts, when awarded by Annex 1 and 2 entities, are included under the national treatment regime for the construction service providers of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the Netherlands on behalf of Aruba, Switzerland, Montenegro and the United Kingdom, provided their value equals or exceeds 5 000 000 SDR and for the construction service providers of Korea; provided their value equals or exceeds 15 000 000 SDR’.

—

Footnote to the title ‘The European Union’ to Appendix I Annexes of the European Union under the revised Agreement and to the title ‘European Union’ under the 1994 Agreement shall include the following footnote:

‘All the references to the contracting authorities and contracting entities of the United Kingdom currently contained in the European Union's Appendix I Annexes are obsolete’.