The WTO and the European Union: Exploring the Relationship between Public Procurement Regulatory Systems

This contribution seeks to explore the relationship between the most developed global public procurement regulation – the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) adopted by the World Trade Organization – and the EU procurement law advanced in almost forty years. The GPA applies, among others, to states that are Member States of the EU. The coexistence of these two regulatory systems raises the following main issues: do such overlapping sets of norms provide a useful framework for applying common principles and standards? What, if any, additional advantage does this global regulation provide, as compared with the EU public contracts directives? To answer to these questions the Author considers the different institutional frameworks, implementation mechanisms, organizations, enforcement procedures, and the ultimate regulatory effectiveness of the WTO public procurement regime and those of the EU regime. The article is focused in particular on the relationship between the practical implications of EU’s policy of procurement market integration and the GPA’s goal of removing unnecessary purchasing restrictions at the global level.