Non-Discrimination

 1. With respect to any measure regarding covered procurement, each Party, including its procuring entities, shall accord immediately and unconditionally to the goods and services of the other Party and to the suppliers of the other Party offering such goods or services, treatment no less favourable than the treatment the Party, including its procuring entities, accords to its own goods, services and suppliers. For greater certainty, such treatment includes:

(a) within Canada, treatment no less favourable than that accorded by a province or territory, including its procuring entities, to goods and services of, and to suppliers located in, that province or territory; and
(b) within the European Union, treatment no less favourable than that accorded by a Member State or a sub-central region of a Member State, including its procuring entities, to goods and services of, and suppliers located in, that Member State or sub-central region, as the case may be.

2. With respect to any measure regarding covered procurement, a Party, including its procuring entities, shall not:

(a) treat a locally established supplier less favourably than another locally established supplier on the basis of the degree of foreign affiliation or ownership; or
(b) discriminate against a locally established supplier on the basis that the goods or services offered by that supplier for a particular procurement are goods or services of the other Party.

Use of Electronic Means

3. When conducting covered procurement by electronic means, a procuring entity shall:

(a) ensure that the procurement is conducted using information technology systems and software, including those related to authentication and encryption of information, that are generally available and interoperable with other generally available information technology systems and software; and
(b) maintain mechanisms that ensure the integrity of requests for participation and tenders, including establishment of the time of receipt and the prevention of inappropriate access.

Conduct of Procurement

4. A procuring entity shall conduct covered procurement in a transparent and impartial manner that:

(a) is consistent with this Chapter, using methods such as open tendering, selective tendering and limited tendering;
(b) avoids conflicts of interest; and
(c) prevents corrupt practices.

Rules of Origin

5. For the purposes of covered procurement, a Party shall not apply rules of origin to goods or services imported from or supplied from the other Party that are different from the rules of origin the Party applies at the same time in the normal course of trade to imports or supplies of the same goods or services from the same Party.

Offsets

6. With regard to covered procurement, a Party, including its procuring entities, shall not seek, take account of, impose or enforce any offset.

Measures Not Specific to Procurement

7. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply to: customs duties and charges of any kind imposed on, or in connection with, importation; the method of levying such duties and charges; other import regulations or formalities and measures affecting trade in services other than measures governing covered procurement.