PROCEDURES FOR THE CIRCULATION AND DERESTRICTION OF DOCUMENTS
OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT

Decision of the Committee on Government Procurement of 26 November 2025

The Committee on Government Procurement (the "Committee"),

        Having regard to the Decision on Procedures for the Circulation and Derestriction of WTO Documents of 14 May 2002 (_WT/L/452) and Article XXI of the Agreement on Government Procurement as amended by the Protocol Amending the Agreement on Government Procurement, done at Geneva on 30 March 2012 (the "amended Agreement (2012)"), and Article II:3 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization,

Having regard to the Decision on Procedures for the Circulation and Derestriction of Documents of the Committee on Government Procurement of 8 October 2002 (_GPA/72, the "2002 Decision"), and in particular its paragraph 5,

        Considering that there is a need to modify the 2002 Decision in the light of the experience gained from its operation and to reflect the entry into force of the amended Agreement (2012),

        Emphasizing the importance of transparency in the functioning of the Committee,

        Decides as follows:

1._        All official documents of the Committee and of any subsidiary body established by it[1] shall be unrestricted. In addition, the following unofficial documents shall be unrestricted: annotated agendas for meetings and reports by the Chair to formal meetings.

2._        Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1,

(a)_       any Party may submit a document as restricted, which shall be automatically derestricted after its first consideration by the relevant body or 60 days after the date of circulation, whichever is earlier, unless requested otherwise by that Party.[2] In the latter case, the document may remain restricted for further periods of 30 days, subject to renewed requests by that Party within each 30-day period. The Secretariat shall remind Parties of such deadlines and derestrict the document in the absence of a contrary request by the Party that submitted the document. Any document may be derestricted at any time during the restriction period at the request of the Parties concerned;

(b)_       minutes and summaries of meetings (including records, reports and notes) shall be restricted and shall be automatically derestricted 30 days after the date of circulation[3];

(c)_       documents relating to modifications and rectifications to coverage pursuant to Article XIX of the amended Agreement (2012) shall be automatically derestricted upon circulation;

(d)_       official documents related to arbitrations under Article XIX:7 of the amended Agreement (2012) and circulated in the GPA/ARB-series, which contain information designated as confidential by the submitting Party under the Decision on Arbitration Procedures Pursuant to Article XIX:8 of the Revised GPA of 22 June 2016 (_GPA/139), and any amended versions of the Decision contained in GPA/139[4], shall be restricted. These documents shall be derestricted after redaction by the submitting Party of the information designated as confidential;

(e)_       documents relating to any further negotiations pursuant to Article XXII:7 of the amended Agreement (2012) shall be restricted and the Committee will consider their derestriction five years after the entry into force of the further amended Agreement or new Agreement for all Parties;

(f)_        documents relating to any accession shall be restricted and shall be automatically derestricted upon the entry into force of the amended Agreement (2012) for the WTO Member concerned; and

(g)_       documents relating to the Committee's work programmes pursuant to Article XXII:8 of the amended Agreement (2012) shall be restricted and shall be automatically derestricted after their first consideration by the Committee or 60 days after the date of circulation, whichever is earlier, unless requested otherwise by the Party submitting the document. In the latter case, the document may remain restricted for further periods of 30 days, subject to renewed requests by that Party within each 30-day period. The Secretariat shall remind Parties of such deadlines and derestrict the documents in the absence of a contrary request by the Party that submitted the document. Any document may be derestricted at any time during the restriction period at the request of the Parties concerned.

3._        Translation of official documents of the Committee in all three official WTO languages (English, French and Spanish) shall be completed expeditiously. Once translated into all three official WTO languages, all official documents of the Committee that are not restricted shall be made available via the WTO website to facilitate their dissemination to the public at large.[5]

4._        The 2002 Decision shall be superseded with regard to all documents of the Committee circulated after the date of adoption of the present Decision.

5._        In the light of the experience gained from the operation of these procedures and changes in any other relevant procedures under the WTO, the Committee will, at an appropriate time, review and if necessary modify the procedures.

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