Work of UNCITRAL on government procurement: purpose, objectives and complementarity with the work of the WTO

Abstract

Introduction The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (‘UNCITRAL’) is the main legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law, with a general mandate to further the progressive harmonization and unification of the law of international trade, through the issuing of conventions and model laws, cooperation with other international organizations and technical assistance. Although both UNCITRAL and the WTO have mandates addressing the rules governing international trade, their scope is rather different. The WTO addresses state-to-state relations, whereas UNCITRAL's texts relate mainly to private law commercial transactions (including tangential aspects of administrative or constitutional law) in individual states. As regards procurement, the GPA addresses the harmonization of procurement law with the express aim of opening up markets to international competition by preventing Parties from discriminating against suppliers from other Parties, and applying rules of transparency and open competition in procurement. UNCITRAL seeks to facilitate international trade through the harmonization of national law on procurement based on the main principles of transparency and competition (but it is arguably less demanding as regards international competition and more flexible on the protection of national suppliers). This chapter will examine the similarities between the texts, reflecting that the principles underlying good procurement practice are fundamental to both of them, and concluding that the texts are largely consistent for good reason: there is no reason to follow different approaches whether the primary aim is trade liberalization or achieving best value for money in national procurement.