The national treatment and exceptions provisions of the Agreement on Government Procurement and the pursuit of horizontal policies

This chapter discusses the relationship between two of the general provisions of the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), and the significance of this relationship for the use of public procurement as a policy tool to promote various industrial, social and environmental policies that are not necessarily related to the goods, works or services being acquired. Examples of such policies include providing economic development opportunities for underdeveloped regions, for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or for disadvantaged social groups. These policies have been variously referred to as ‘secondary’, ‘collateral’ or (as here) ‘horizontal’ policies.