Introduction

As outlined in chapter 1 of this volume, the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) includes procedural rules and other transparency-related provisions which govern all procurements covered by the GPA. As chapter 1 also explained, a revised GPA text was provisionally adopted in December 2006, which makes the Agreement more user-friendly, introduces some substantive changes to enhance flexibility and, crucially, brings the text up to date. The aim of the present chapter is to examine the main substantive changes in that revised text that relate to the procedural rules and transparency provisions. It should be stressed that there is no intention to provide a critical analysis of the transparency rules as a whole, or to consider other changes that might be made, which would go beyond the scope of a single chapter: the aim is merely to examine the amendments so that those who are familiar with the 1994 text can obtain a full appreciation of the implications of the new text. Readers should also note that changes to the revised text relating to matters other than procedural rules and transparency are dealt with elsewhere in this volume, in particular in chapter 11 by Müller, which examines the revised text's new provisions on special and differential treatment for developing countries, and in chapter 1, which includes an account of changes on matters such as coverage rules and remedies.