* Taiwan joins WTO procurement agreement from July 15
* Allows it to sidestep Buy American provisions
* Taiwan procurement market is $20 billion
GENEVA, June 16 (Reuters) - Taiwan has joined the World Trade Organisation's government procurement agreement, allowing its companies to bid for government contracts from other members, a WTO spokesman said on Tuesday.
In particular, membership of the agreement means that Taiwanese firms will be able to bid for U.S. government contracts, despite the controversial Buy American provisions in the U.S. stimulus package.
After negotiating membership of the agreement in December 2008, Taiwan had an extended deadline of July 9 to ratify it.
"Now they communicated in an official letter that we received yesterday (June 15) that they have completed the ratification," WTO spokesman Josep Bosch told Reuters.
Membership takes effect one month after ratification -- on July 15. Taiwan, whose government procurement market is worth about $20 billion a year, is the 41st territory to join the agreement.
The WTO's 153 members agree not to discriminate against each other or favour domestic producers over foreign competitors.
But rules covering government procurement are subject to a separate voluntary agreement, in which countries agree with other members what parts of their state procurement they will open up in return for access to contracts with the others.
President Barack Obama agreed to the Buy American provisions on condition that they were in line with U.S. international trade commitments -- in practice that they did not affect procurement arrangements with the WTO or North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA.
Most members of the procurement agreement are rich countries. It comprises Aruba, Canada, the European Union and its 27 member states, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States.
Neither China nor India are members of the WTO agreement, although China is negotiating to join.
Other countries negotiating membership are Albania, Georgia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Oman and Panama. Ukraine has said it intends to start negotiations and Saudi Arabia is considering launching them. (Reporting by Jonathan Lynn; Editing by Stephanie Nebehay)