European Commission – Joint EU-Mercosur Communiqué Following the XXVIIth Round of Negotiations

After five days of discussions, the XXVIIth Round of the MERCOSUR-EU Bi-regional Negotiating Committee was successfully concluded last Friday, 24 March in Buenos Aires (Argentina). Significant progress was achieved regarding the negotiating text in the three parts of the future Association Agreement between both regions: Trade Part, Political Dialogue and Bi-Regional Cooperation.

The discussion on public procurement focused on the text provisions of the public procurement chapter, which define procedures which apply to the public procurement contracts covered by the agreement. The EU and Mercosur had exchanged revised text proposals ahead of the Round. The proposed text by the EU is based on the provisions of the revised GPA, with some adaptations aimed at increasing the transparency of procurement opportunities, the use of electronic procurement and the review procedures.

Agreement was reached on some aspects of text touching on: the scope of the public procurement chapter, the security and defence exception, and electronic procurement. Discussion will continue.

http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1639