The following stipulations have been made concerning the procedures for the Japanese government procurement of the central government entities: as a law, the Account Law (Law No. 35 of 1947); as governmental ordinances, the Budget Settlement and Public Accounts Ordinance (Imperial Ordinance No.165 of 1947), and the Special Exemption of Budget Settlement of Account and Accounting Regulations (Imperial Ordinance No. 558 of 1946); and as a ministerial ordinance, the Regulations for Contractual Business Transactions (Ministry of Finance Ordinance No. 52 of 1962) (reference material I - 1).
Among procurement applicable to the 1995 WTO Agreement on Government Procurement and the other international agreement (see note 1), the following legislations secure procurement procedures for the central government in line with the Agreement: Cabinet Order Stipulating Special Procedures for Government Procurement of Products or Specified Services(Government Ordinance No. 300 of 1980), and the Ministerial Ordinance Stipulating Special Procedures for Government Procurement of Products or Specified Services (Ministry of Finance Ordinance No. 45 of 1980).
Each ministry and agency stipulates detailed rules of contract regulations, qualifications, etc., based on the above regulations:
In addition to these procedures based on the Account laws and ordinances, the Committee for Drawing Up and Promoting the Action Program (hereafter referred to as the Action Program Committee) (reference material I - 2), drafted, as voluntary measures (reference material I-3), non-discriminatory, fair and transparent procedures which surpass those with the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (see note 2), and has been steadily implementing follow-ups.
(Note 1)
Entities covered by the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement are central government entities, sub-central government entities (local public entities), public corporations, and independent administrative institutions. Of these, sub-central government entities (local public entities), public corporations, and independent administrative institutions stipulate to the Agreement in government ordinances based on the Local Autonomy Law, or internal regulations determined in order to maintain implementation of the Agreement.
(Note 2)
For example, procurement contracts in the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement are placed above SDR 130,000. However, in the voluntary measures, procurement contracts above SDR 100,000 and below SDR 130,000 are also handled in line with the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. Furthermore, the period of the receipt of tenders in the Agreement shall be over 40 days, but in the voluntary measures it shall be over 50 days.
