This book examines how international norms for government procurement are reflected in purchasing practices at the national level and whether there is convergence in policies and approaches across countries.

As governments are major buyers of goods and services, foreign companies are keen to be able to participate in procurement opportunities on an equal footing with national firms. This has given rise to the inclusion of procurement disciplines in trade agreements and to internationally-agreed good regulatory practices in this important policy area. The contributions to this book examine how the dynamic mix of bilateral, regional, plurilateral and international norms on government procurement is reflected in purchasing practices at the national level and whether these are leading to convergence in policies and approaches. The countries studied span both advanced, high-income economies and emerging economies. Some are members of the WTO procurement agreement, others are not. Most WTO members have decided not to commit to binding international disciplines on procurement in trade agreements. This book explores whether there has been nonetheless internationalization of good procurement practices, and what current public purchasing processes suggest as regards the value added of signing on to binding rules of the game in this area. The approach taken in the volume is interdisciplinary. Contributors include economists, political scientists, legal scholars, and practitioners with a solid understanding of both the extant international disciplines and national government procurement policies. Each chapter assesses the current state of play as regards legislation and procurement practices; the degree to which industrial policy considerations feature in the relevant regulatory frameworks; the existence and use of domestic dispute resolution and review procedures that allow firms to contest the behavior of procuring entities; and the availability of data on procurement processes and outcomes.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of "Mega-Regionals", the new generation of trans-regional free-trade agreements (FTAs) currently under negotiation, and their effect on the future of international economic law. The main focus centres on the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), but the findings are also applicable to similar agreements under negotiation, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).The specific features of Mega-Regional Trade Agreements raise a number of issues with respect to their potential effect on the current system of international trade and investment law. These include the consequences of Mega-Regionals for the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle, their relation to the multilateral system of the World Trade Organization (WTO), their democratic legitimacy and their interaction with existing bilateral investment treaties (BITs).The book is intended for academics and practitioners working in the field of international economic law.

In addressing the politics of the international regulation of public procurement, this book fills a major gap in the literature. Brown-Shafii does this by investigating whether a WTO Agreement can be used to promote good governance, development and accountability.

This book investigates patterns of fragmentation and coherence in the international regulatory architecture of public procurement. In the context of the major international instruments of procurement regulation, the book studies the achievement of social and labour policies, the most controversial and problematic instrumental uses of public procurement practices. This work offers an innovative comparative approach, discussing the ways in which the different international instruments-namely the EU Procurement Directives, the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, the UNCITRAL Model Law and the World Bank's Procurement Framework-are able to implement labour and social purposes and, at the same time, ensure a regulatory balance with the principles of efficiency and non-discrimination. Scholarly, rigorous and timely, this will be important reading for international trade lawyers and procurement practitioners.

This timely work reflects on the role and obligations of the state as a buyer of goods and services, from the dual disciplinary perspectives of public procurement and human rights. Through theoretical and doctrinal analyses, and practice-focused case studies, it interrogates the evolving character of public procurement as an interface for multiple normative regimes and competing policies. Challenging the prevailing paradigm which subordinates human rights to narrowly-defined economic goals, insightful contributions advance a compelling case for greater inter-disciplinarity and policy coherence as crucial to realising international policies such as those embodied in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.