China's New Government Procurement Law: A Major Step Towards Establishing a Comprehensive System?

July 02, 2002 | BY

clpstaff &clp articles

On June 29 2002, the new Government Procurement Law (GPL) was promulgated and it aims at the establishment of a comprehensive system of Government procurement.

By Immanuel Gebhardt and Matthias Mueller, GTZ Advisory Service to the Legal Reform in China

Traditionally, government procurement in China has been conducted without reference to any uniform set of regulations, and has mainly been done by unrestricted administrative purchasing. The problems with this "system" (and we use the term loosely) are obvious. Wasteful use of fiscal funds, no uniform procurement proceedings or efficient supervisory systems, high degrees of local protectionism, a lack of transparency in proceedings and substantial levels of corruption have all marked government procurement in the past.

As a first step to regulating government procurement, starting in the mid 1990s, central and local level regulations were enacted in various municipalities on a trial basis.1

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