Fourth Meeting of the CETA Committee on Government Procurement – December 14, 2021 (by videoconference)

Joint Report

The fourth meeting of the EU/Canada CETA Committee on Government Procurement took place on 14 December 2021 in the form of a videoconference. Participants included representatives from Global Affairs Canada (Government of Canada), the European Commission (Directorate General for Trade and Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs), the Delegation of the European Union to Canada, the Mission of Canada to the EU, Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Representatives from several provinces and territories of Canada were also present.

Discussion topics related to the implementation of the CETA government procurement chapter, namely:

1. Canada reported progress regarding its obligation to establish a Single Point of Access (SPA) for all CETA-covered procurement. A new website “CanadaBuys”, which will also serve as an e-procurement platform, is under development.
2. The EU informed Canada of its new internet tool “Access2Procurement”, which allows suppliers to find out whether or not a given procurement is covered by CETA.
3. Canada provided an update on the state of play regarding CETA coverage of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
4. The EU informed Canada on the state of play regarding the proposed Foreign Subsidies Regulation and the International Procurement Instrument.
5. Parties agreed to hold the next meeting of the Committee in May or June 2022.

The Committee on Government Procurement will report to the CETA Joint Committee on its ongoing work.