Council Decision (EU) 2019/349 of 22 February 2019 establishing the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Committee on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organisation on the accession of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Revised Agreement on Government Procurement in the context of its withdrawal from the European Union

The position to be taken on behalf of the Union in the Committee on Government Procurement (‘the GPA Committee’) shall be to approve the accession of the United Kingdom to the Revised Agreement on Government Procurement (‘the Revised GPA’), subject to the conditions laid down in Article 2 of this Decision and to the terms of accession set out in the Annex to this Decision, insofar as the Union's interests are not negatively affected by the position of other Parties to the GPA.

The position to be taken on behalf of the Union pursuant to Article 1 shall be subject to the condition that the decision of the GPA Committee contains provisions ensuring the following: (1) in the absence of a withdrawal agreement between the United Kingdom and the Union providing for a transition period, the United Kingdom is allowed to deposit its instrument of accession with the Director-General of the WTO provided it does so: (a) not earlier than 30 days before the date on which the United Kingdom ceases to be a Member State; and (b) within six months of the date of the decision of the GPA Committee, unless the period for submission of the instrument is extended by that Committee; (2) the deposit of the United Kingdom's instrument of accession is deemed not to have taken place for the purposes of Article XXIV:2 of the 1994 GPA and Article XXII:2 of the Revised GPA if, within 30 days following that deposit, the Union notifies the GPA Committee that the United Kingdom continues to be covered by the Revised GPA pursuant to Union law.

In the event that Union law will continue to apply to and in the United Kingdom, the Commission is authorised to notify the GPA Committee, on behalf of the Union, within 30 days of the deposit of the United Kingdom's instrument of accession, that the United Kingdom continues to be covered by the Revised GPA pursuant to Union law.

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.