Australia is party to five free trade agreements that include government procurement provisions that apply to government agencies in New South Wales:

• Australia – United States Free Trade Agreement (2005)
• Australia – Chile Free Trade Agreement (2009)
• Korea – Australia Free Trade Agreement (2014)
• Japan – Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (2015)
• Singapore – Australia Free Trade Agreement (as amended in 2017).

Amendments to the Singapore Australia Free Trade include government procurement provisions which apply to NSW Government agencies from 1 December 2017.

The Guide to International Procurement Agreements attached to this Direction provides information about when these free trade agreements apply to agencies and what agencies need to do to comply with their obligations.

The NSW Procurement Board directs government agencies to:

• identify all procurement covered by a free trade agreement
• ensure that covered procurement is undertaken in accordance with all free trade agreements applying to the agency
• ensure that covered procurement is undertaken in accordance with the Guide to International Procurement Agreements.

When undertaking covered procurement, agencies must give precedence to complying with the Guide to International Procurement Agreements if there is any conflict with any existing NSW Procurement Board Direction or Policy.

The Board notes that Australia has applied to become party to the World Trade Organisation Government Procurement Agreement and is actively negotiating other agreements that may impact on government procurement. The Board will monitor these developments and will issue further directions as necessary.