(ADOPTED ON 7 November 2025)

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. Pursuant to this mandate, the Working Party completed an illustrative list of state trading relationships and activities, adopted 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 5 November 2024 through 3 November 2025. During this period, the Working Party held two formal meetings, on 5 May 2025 and 3 November 2025. The minutes of the former were circulated as document _G/STR/M/46, and minutes of the latter will be circulated as _G/STR/M/47.

4.  During the first part of the review period, Ms Jooyoung LEE (Republic of Korea) was Chair of the Working Party. On 27 May 2025, the Council for Trade in Goods elected Mr Sokheng KONG (Cambodia) as Chairperson of the Working Party.

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: Cambodia; Canada; Chile; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Guatemala; Indonesia; the State of Kuwait; Malaysia; Norway; Senegal; and Chinese Taipei. The Working Party also returned to the previously reviewed notifications of Brazil, Eswatini, India, and South Africa.

7.  The Working Party also took up the following agenda item: continued non-notification of state trading enterprises by the Russian Federation (item requested by the United States).

3  Compliance with the notification obligation

8.  As of 3 November 2025, the Working Party has received 47 new and full notifications for the 2022-2023 notification period. Between 5 November 2024 and 3 November 2025, the Working Party has also received 20 new and full notifications for earlier notification periods.

9.  The following Members have not submitted any notification for the 2022-2023 notification period: Afghanistan; Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Armenia; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Plurinational State of Bolivia; Botswana; Brunei Darussalam; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cabo Verde; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Colombia; Congo; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Dominica;  Egypt; El Salvador; Fiji; Gabon; the Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; India; Jamaica; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyz Republic; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Liberia; Madagascar; Malawi; Maldives; Mali; Mauritania; Mexico; Republic of Moldova; Mongolia; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nepal; Niger; Nigeria; Oman; Pakistan; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Qatar; Russian Federation; Rwanda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Sierra Leone; Solomon Islands; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Tajikistan; Tanzania; Togo; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Türkiye; Uganda; United Arab Emirates; Vanuatu; Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; Viet Nam; Yemen; Zambia; and Zimbabwe.

10.  An overview of the status of state trading notifications since 1995 will be circulated as document _G/STR/42.

4  Report of the Working Party to the Council for trade in Goods on ACTIONS TO IMPROVE SUBMISSION OF NOTIFICATIONS

11.  On 15 April 2025, the Chair of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) sent a communication to all Chairs of the CTG's subsidiary bodies. In this communication the CTG Chair referred to the new Secretariat report titled "Notifications Status of Regular/Periodic and One Time Only Notifications in the Goods Area (1995 2024)" (_G/C/W/859). This report, prepared at the request of the CTG, provides detailed data on submission rates and the annual number of such notifications.

12.  In this context, the CTG Chair invited the Chairs of its subsidiary bodies to: (1) discuss the additional steps that could be taken to improve the regular/periodic and one time only notification requirements they oversee; (2) identify the steps needed to improve the quality and timeliness of notification; and (3) inform the Council of past actions that have worked well in improving the number of submitted notifications. All subsidiary bodies were requested to report back to the Council by Monday, 10 November, so that the reports can be considered at the CTG's final formal meeting of 2025.

13.  The Working Party held joint informal consultations on 1 October 2025. Following these informal consultations, a draft report to the CTG was circulated to the membership on 7 October 2025 for comments and discussion at the Regular meeting of the Working Party held on 3 November 2025.

14.  The Working Party adopted the report to the CTG in document _G/STR/41.

5  Dates of the regular meetings in 2026

15.  As part of the steps agreed on by Members in 2023 to improve the functioning of the Working Party, Members set the dates of both regular meetings of 2026 during the autumn meeting of 2025.

6  Adoption of the annual report

16.  The Working Party adopted its Annual Report to the Council for Trade in Goods for the year 2025.

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