The WTO Government Procurement Agreement: Assessing the scope for green procurement

WTO Government Procurement Agreement: Secondary or horizontal policy goals were considered to be “government by procurement” and hence to be avoided. een from this angle green public procurement was regarded with a degree of suspicion.At the same time, however, other opinions were voiced pointing out that the link to the subject-matter of the contract is easier to establish when discussing environmental features understood as being part of the quality of the product. In this context a distinction was made between green public procurement on one hand, and the integration of social aspects on the other, the latter being considered as less obvious. According to this approach, technical specifications – as explicitly presupposed in Article VI GPA 1994 – include production processes and methods (PPMs) of the procured products, and consideration of these is therefore permitted as long as they do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. Technical specifications were from a GPA-perspective perceived to be the easiest way to take into account aspects of green public procurement. The regulation on PPMs in the context of the GPA has to be considered as a (more generous) lex specialis compared to the classical debate concerning PPMs in a more general WTO law context. It is important to understand that there is a significant difference between B R I D G E S N E T W O R K BIORES Analysis and news on trade and environment VOLUME 9, ISSUE 10 – DECEMBER 2015, p. 21 ss.