Post by account_disabled on Mar 13, 2024 0:31:36 GMT -5
The federal government opened a public consultation on Brazil's accession to the World Trade Organization's Public Procurement Agreement (GPA).
Federal government has opened a deadline for demonstrations about entering into an agreement
Reproduction
In Circular 55/2020 of the Secretariat of Foreign Trade, of the Ministry of Economy, published in the Friday (21/8) edition of the Official Gazette of the Union, a period of 60 days was established for interested parties from the productive sectors and society civil society to express their views on Brazil's adherence to the agreement.
The statements, to be made on the B2B Lead secretariat's website , must address the effects of the commitment in terms of increasing competition and the interests of its signatories.
Multilateral agreement
The GPA is a plurilateral treaty made up of 48 WTO members, with the aim of promoting the mutual opening of its members' public procurement markets, through commitments to transparency and non-discrimination.
In addition to encouraging the adoption of good governance practices in bidding processes, these commitments encourage increased competition between suppliers of goods and service providers to the public administration, optimizing the cost-benefit ratio of government purchases, hindering corruption and contributing to the fiscal adjustment efforts undertaken by the current government.
The topic of public procurement plays an increasingly prominent role in Brazil's commercial policy, which, over the last few years, has been negotiating a series of international agreements on the matter, all aligned, to a large extent, with the GPA's regulatory framework.
With Peru, Mercosur and Chile, Brazil concluded public purchasing agreements in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Within the scope of Mercosur, in 2019, trade agreements were concluded with the European Union and the European Free Trade Association, which have chapters on this topic.
According to the Foreign Trade Secretariat, for now there is no need to promote adjustments in domestic laws and regulations on public procurement to enable Brazil's adherence to the GPA.
The negotiation process with the 48 members of the GPA will begin shortly after the formal notification to begin the accession process — already underway — and will involve several bodies at the federal, state and municipal levels, all under the coordination of the federal government.