Credits
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15
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Module Convenor
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Dr Ping Wang
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Term Offered
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Spring
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Assessment
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Essay
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Public Procurement refers to the government’s activity of purchasing the goods and services it needs. These range from simple items such as paper clips and cleaning services, to large and complex acquisitions such as public infrastructure (roads, power stations etc) and weapons. In most countries this government market accounts for 15-20% of GDP – a major part of economic activity. Increasing legal regulation means that public procurement is one of the most exciting and fast-developing areas of commercial law.
The Law School has a major global centre in this area, the Public Procurement Research Group, which is not only an academic leader – it is currently heading an EU funded Asia Link project to develop this subject in universities across Europe and Asia - but is also closely involved in international law reform projects.
One of the reasons for the rapid development of this area arises from the fact that governments use their procurement to support national industry. This directly conflicts with the objectives of the WTO, and of regional trade arrangements, such as the EU, NAFTA, COMESA, and APEC. These arrangements thus now generally regulate public procurement to ensure fair international competition for government contracts, by requiring governments to tender major contracts according to detailed rules. These rules are often controversial, however, because of their impact on national government procurement policies, such as policies to help small business or protect the environment.
In the option Public Procurement in EC and International Trade Law we examine the international trade rules in this field. We focus mainly on the EU and WTO rules, which have provided a model for many other agreements. We consider, inter alia, what these international rules require: which types of government contracts are covered and how must they be tendered? We also examine how the rules impact on national policies, and whether they are actually successful in opening up government markets to trade.