RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/STR/M/6
11December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5228)
Working Party onState Trading Enterprises
MINUTES OFTHE MEETING OFTHE
WORKING PARTY HELD ON
24OCTOBER 1996
Chairman: Mr.Peter May(Australia)
1. TheWorking Party adopted theagenda contained inWTO/AIR/463.
Report totheCouncil forTrade inGoods
2. TheChairman recalled thatthisitemhadbeenconsidered attheWorking Party'smeeting of
26September, andthatithadnotbeenpossible atthattimetoadopt thetextofthedraftreport circulated
atthatmeeting. Hehadsubsequently convened informal consultations toconsider arevised version
ofthedraft report. Onthebasis oftheviews expressed during those consultations andatthe
26September meeting, hehadprepared afurther revision ofthedraftreport. Therevised textwas
afactual reflection oftheactivities oftheWorking Party during theperiod under review, andassuch
followed theguidance given bytheChairman oftheGeneral Council, Ambassador Rossier, forthe
preparation ofthereports oftheWTO standing bodies (WT/L/145). Thetexthadbeendistributed
toalldelegations atthepresent meeting.
3. Healsorecalled thatthedeadline fortheadoption ofareport bytheWorking Party hadbeen
reached, astheCouncil forTrade inGoods would meet on1November toconsider thereports of
theWTO standing bodies. Hesaidthatkeeping inmind thatthereport wasafactual reflection of
theactivities oftheWorking Party andthatitscontents didnotinanywayprejudice theposition of
anyMember, hewasproposing thetextforadoption asthe1996 Report oftheWorking Party tothe
Council forTrade inGoods.
4. Therepresentatives oftheUnited States, Canada, Norway, Australia, Mexico, NewZealand,
Argentina,India,Colombia,theEuropeanCommunities,Morocco,Pakistan,Romania,Egypt,Philippines
(speaking onbehalf ofASEAN), Japan, Brazil, Korea andUruguay made drafting suggestions tothe
text.
5. Therepresentative oftheUnited States proposed theinclusion oftextasarecommendation
oftheWorking Party, withtheaimofencouraging compliance withthenotification obligations under
Article XVII andtheUnderstanding ontheInterpretation ofArticle XVII (hereinafter "the
Understanding").
6. TheChairman suggested language toincorporate thisproposal inthereport, andonthebasis
ofhissuggestions thispartofthetext1wasagreed.
1Paragraph 16ofG/L/128.G/STR/M/6
Page2
7. Therepresentative ofAustralia suggested thatthetextdealing withissues thathadarisen in
discussion ofthequestionnaire could beamended toinclude theissueoftheprovision ofcommercially
confidential information andthescope ofnotification obligations under Article XVII.
8. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthatthiswasacoreissue forhisdelegation; the
textshouldnotindicatethatthegatheringofwhatmightbeconsideredcommerciallysensitiveinformation
would beavoided.
9. Therepresentative ofNewZealand shared theobjectives ofAustralia 'ssuggestion andsupported
language which would highlight thatthese issues hadarisen inthedebate onthequestionnaire.
10. Therepresentative ofArgentina saidthatanywording todescribe issues raised under the
questionnaire should notcastanydoubt onthescope oftheWorking Party'swork orontheobligations
under Article XVII.
11. Therepresentative ofIndia recalled thatduring theconsultations onthequestionnaire his
delegation hadsaidthatitwould notbeabletoprovide commercially confidential information. The
factthatthere were divergent positions onthisissue should bereflected.
12. Therepresentative oftheUnited States reiterated theimportance ofthisissuetohisdelegation
andsaidthatitshould notbecategorized assomething toavoid orassomething thatwasunnecessary.
13. Therepresentative ofColombia reserved herdelegation 'sposition onanypossible relationship
between thisissue andthescope ofArticle XVII.
14. Therepresentative ofAustralia saidthattheintent oftheproposed language wastobemore
specific andtoclarify theissues thathadbeendiscussed inthecontext ofthequestionnaire andthe
illustrative list. Inlightofthis,Australia could accept language stating thatdivergent views were
expressed ontheprovision ofcommercially confidential information.
15. TheChairman proposed compromise language tocover thisissue, andonthebasis ofhis
suggestions, thispartofthetext2wasagreed.
16. Therepresentative ofMexico expressed hisdelegation 'sconcern oversuggestions thattouched
onthescope oftheArticle XVII notification requirements. Thebounds ofthemandate oftheWorking
Party, assetoutinparagraph 5oftheUnderstanding, hadtoberespected. Regarding theorganization
ofthereport, hesuggested thatanewsection beincluded tocover matters thathadbeenraised inthe
Working Party which didnotproperly fitunder anyoftheexisting headings inthetext.
17. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities suggested thatanewsection heading might
beentitled "Suggestions forFuture Work oftheWorking Party". Healsosuggested thatthesentence
dealing withtheproposal made bytheCommunity atthe26September meeting oftheWorking Party
(G/STR/W/33)beamendedtoindicatethatmanydelegationswelcomedtheproposalandthattheproposal
wasreferred totheCouncil forTrade inGoods forfurther consideration.
18. Therepresentative ofMexico saidthatwhathadbeenproposed bytheCommunity completely
unbalanced thetext.
2Lastsentence ofparagraph 13ofG/L/128.G/STR/M/6
Page3
19. Therepresentative ofJapan saidthathisrecollection wasthatmore delegations hadexpressed
concerns overtheproposal thanhadwelcomed orsupported it.
20. Therepresentative ofMorocco saidthatthere hadbeennoconsensus intheWorking Party
toreferthisproposal totheCouncil forTrade inGoods forfurther consideration.
21. Therepresentative ofNewZealand saidthattheCommunity 'ssuggestion wasnotanaccurate
reflection ofwhathadtranspired.
22. Therepresentative ofAustralia saidthatherdelegation hadsupported afuture examination
ofArticle XVII andnottheECproposal perse.
23. Therepresentative oftheUnited States supported thelanguage suggested bytheCommunity,
andrecalled thathisdelegation hadsupported theCommunity 'sproposal initsentirety.
24. Therepresentative ofArgentina recalled thathisdelegation hadsupported theCommunity 's
proposal. Inhisview, nochange wasneeded inthedrafttextofthereport.
25. TheChairman saidthatthere seemed tobeaneedtoreflect inthereport thevarying degrees
ofsupport thathadbeenexpressed fortheCommunity 'sproposal atthe26September meeting.
26. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidthathisdelegation 'saimwastohave
afactual reflection ofwhathadtranspired. IntheCommunity 'sview, more delegations hadwelcomed
theproposal thanhadopposed it,andtheproposal hadinfactbeenraised intheCouncil forTrade
inGoods.
27. Therepresentative ofJapan asked theCommunity what wasmeant bythestatement inthe
proposal that"theintent ofthepaper wasnottorenegotiate Article XVII".
28. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidthathisdelegation would prefer toclarify
thispoint withJapan bilaterally.
29. TheChairman proposed compromise language tocover thisissue, andonthebasis ofhis
suggestions, thispartofthetext3wasagreed.
30. TheWorking Party adopted, asits1996 Report totheCouncil forTrade inGoods, thetext
subsequently circulated indocument G/L/128.
3Penultimate sentence ofparagraph 15ofG/L/128.