ILO Core Labour Standards and WTO Government Procurement Agreement – Conflict or Coherence?

Abstract

"Socially responsible public procurement (SRPP) means procurement operations that take into account one or more of the following social considerations: employment opportunities, decent work, compliance with social and labour rights (emphasis added), social inclusion (including persons with disabilities), equal opportunities, accessibility design for all, taking account of sustainability cri­teria, including ethical trade issues and wider voluntary compliance with corporate social respon­sibility (CSR), ..." (European Commission, Buying social, Brussels, 19.10.2010, SEC [2010] 1258 final, p. 5). This definition given by the EU Commission leads to the question whether and how far social aspects can be integrated into the procurement process without being at odds with the liberali­sation goal of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA). This is especially interesting as far as the ILO Core Labour Standards are concerned, because the relation between ILO and WTO as two public international law actors and the respective underlying frameworks are at stake. The brown bag seminar should also allow for touching upon ECJ case law and the EU Procure­ment Direc­tives, which according to their recitals should be compatible with the GPA.

Biography of the Speaker

Marc Steiner holds a Master of Law from the University of Basel and is admitted to the bar. He has contributed his expertise on Green Public Pro­cure­ment in Switzer­land (2006) and recently issued a short working paper on how to integrate social aspects in public procurement processes (2009, 2^nd version 2010). He was appointed as a Judge to the Swiss Federal Admini­strative Court in 2007 (2nd Division, primarily in charge of economic matters including pub­lic procure­ment and competition). His comparative approach has been stimu­lated during two internships at the ECJ (1996 and 2008). He is also involved as a regular guest of the ILO Inter­national Training Centre ITCILO, Torino, in the spreading of knowledge about the legal aspects of sustainable public procurement.