REPORT
(2022) OF THE WORKING PARTY ON
STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES
ADOPTED ON 21 october 2022
1 OrganiZation of the work of the Working Party
1. The
Working Party on State Trading Enterprises (the Working Party) was established
by the Council for Trade in Goods at its meeting of 20 February 1995,
pursuant to paragraph 5 of the Understanding on the Interpretation of
Article XVII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (the
Understanding). Membership of the Working Party is open to all Members indicating
their wish to serve on it. Observer governments in the General Council of the
WTO have observer status in the Working Party.
2. The
mandate of the Working Party is set out in paragraph 5 of the
Understanding. The Working Party completed its mandate to develop an
illustrative list of state trading relationships and activities with the
adoption of the Illustrative List by the Council for Trade in Goods on
15 October 1999 (G/STR/4).
Having also completed the mandated revision of the questionnaire on state
trading, the Working Party now reviews notifications in light of the revised
questionnaire adopted on 14 November 2003 (G/STR/3/Rev.1),
as well as counter-notifications.
3. This
report is submitted under paragraph 5 of the Understanding, which provides
that the Working Group shall report annually to the Council for Trade in Goods.
The report sets out the activities of the Working Party during the review
period, which runs from 6 October 2021 through 21 October 2022.
During this period, the Working Party held two formal meetings, on 13 May 2022
and 21 October 2022. The minutes of the former were circulated as document
G/STR/M/40, and minutes of the latter will be circulated as G/STR/M/41.
4. During
the first part of the review period, Mr Sultan Alsharif (Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia) was Chair of the Working Party and Ms Bing Lou (New Zealand) was
Vice-Chair. On 23 May 2022, the General Council elected Mr Agustín Navarro de
Vicente-Gella (Spain) as Chair of the Working Party, and in September 2022 the
Working Party elected Ms Lucille Veronique Brutus (Seychelles) as Vice-Chair.
2 Notification and
review of Members' state trading activities
5. Article XVII:4
of the GATT 1994 and paragraph 1 of the Understanding require Members
to notify their state trading enterprises to the Council for Trade in Goods.
New and full notifications were first required in 1995 and, subsequently, every
third year thereafter, with updating notifications in the intervening years.
Since 2004, new and full notifications have been due every two years and
updating notifications have been eliminated.
6. During the period under review, the Working Party
reviewed new and full notifications from: Argentina; Australia; Brazil;
Cambodia; Canada; China; Dominican Republic; El Salvador; European Union;
Georgia; Honduras; Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Israel; Japan; Kyrgyz Republic;
Macao, China; Malaysia; Mali; Moldova; New Zealand; Nicaragua; North Macedonia;
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Seychelles; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand;
Tonga; Ukraine; United Kingdom; and United States of America. It also returned
to the previously reviewed notifications of India and Viet Nam.