The GPA/WTO and Latin America: lessons from Brazil’s accession process
Pereira, Cesar. Schwind, Rafael Wallbach. 'The GPA/WTO and Latin America: lessons from Brazil’s accession process' [2023] approved for publication on the Public Procurement Law Review, University of Nottingham.
25 Pages Posted: 15 May 2023 Last revised: 24 May 2023
Date Written: March 17, 2023
Abstract
Brazil’s application for accession to the Agreement on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organization (GPA/WTO) in 2020 drew attention to the absence of Latin American countries in the Agreement and the prospects for regional expansion.
Brazil had a swift engagement with the GPA. It became an observer in 2017 and hastened to apply for accession in 2020, unlike Colombia, Argentina, Panama and Chile, which have been observers since 1996 and 1997, respectively. Other Latin American countries (Costa Rica and Paraguay) are also observers. However, Brazil is the only one negotiating actively its accession, following important initiatives by the government, WTO and academia to raise awareness about the GPA.
This speed may seem counterintuitive, since Brazil has the largest domestic market in Latin America and has featured historically public procurement traits that, on their face, are contrary to GPA principles and mechanisms, such as national preferences with limited extension to Mercosur States, a strong use of government procurement to advance public policies like protection of SMEs and of preferred labor or environmental practices, and offset agreements in many international purchases.
Future expansion of GPA membership in Latin America will draw important lessons from the Brazilian experience. This is the subject of this paper.
First, this paper deals with the context that led to Brazil’s application, including government statements to relinquish Brazil’s status as a developing economy eligible to benefit from Special and Differential Treatment (STD) and their effects on the accession negotiations.
Second, this paper highlights the democratic process of public consultations to build awareness in the public and private sectors and build a more effective first offer and basis for negotiation, and how the matter developed from the initial consultations.
Third, this paper addresses what is expected in terms of harmonization of the Brazilian legislation.
Last, it examines the parallel but unrelated processes of public procurement legislation mostly between 2016 and 2021 and the greater engagement with the GPA around the same period, and how both might have benefitted from a closer mutual integration. One of the widely recognized gains from the involvement with the GPA is the exposure of non-member countries to international best practices, and some of these gains and the necessary legislative harmonization could have been sped up by an exchange between the reform and accession efforts.
Keywords: GPA, WTO, Brazil, accession, negotiation, government procurement
JEL Classification: K2, K22, K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation